


Bumblebee and the Ink Demon

by Tigressa101



Series: Transformers - The Nightmare Universe [1]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine, Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Dark, Bittersweet Ending, Canonical Character Death, Cliffhangers, Dark Comedy, Dark Past, Demon Deals, Don't Fuck With Bendy, Enemies to Friends, Gen, God Complex, Insanity, Minor Character Death, Minor Original Character(s), Original Character(s), Past Character Death, Soul Selling, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-08-04 06:20:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 52,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16341437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tigressa101/pseuds/Tigressa101
Summary: A piece of the Allspark’s former crystal casing is stolen and used to make lost history repeat itself. Bumblebee is forced to deal with a lot more than he bargained for when a supposed cartoon character from long ago seeks to steal back the last two people required to complete his revenge.





	1. The Allspark Conundrum

**Author's Note:**

> Bendy and co.'s bios located on my DeviantArt.

_60 years ago…_

A heartbeat rang through the halls of the broken studio, growing faint with each pulse as the room seemed to grow smaller with tainted breaths.

Henry busted down the exit. Bits and pieces of wood flew in all directions as did some of his blood. Coughing, he peered around him. It had been six days since he last saw the light of the sun. He should have been happy but no joy came to his features splattered with blood and ink. He clasped the grass with tears burning down his black-stained cheeks, giving a soft moan as he stayed still.

“Bendy”, “Alice” and all those monsters that once were his peers finally have been destroyed. Boris, or rather Tom, sacrificed himself to protect him, the only Toon he actually wanted to save. The Ink Machine, however, he could not touch although he managed to shut it down. A pentagram scarred its side rendering it unbreakable as he learned with some of those Bendy cutouts. Who put it up there was most likely none other than Joey who had escaped in their final confrontation with “Bendy”. Joey had helped him kill the monster but left him behind to deal with the others as if he blamed him for everything going so wrong. Figures, his former best friend never liked taking the blame for his own mistakes.

Against his better judgement, Henry peered back into the opening of the building. Some of the walls had caved in leaving the Machine exposed to see. It was strange how the Machine acted before he stopped “Bendy”; he had accidentally placed his hand upon the pentagram the same time as Joey did and small surge leapt into both of them it seemed. He almost felt…younger, like all his energy from his teenage years had returned. He felt immortal. 

Now that he thought about it, what will happen when somebody unintentionally stumbles upon the Machine? To reactivate it would prove fatal. It was a little miracle he was still alive but he recognized some of the ink monsters’ mannerisms so he had gained an advantage. After all, he was their true maker. He pitched and designed them, animated them for the silver screen but everybody gave Joey the credit. It was sickly sweet how the cartoons knew who their real creator was.

Scoffing, Henry stood up and dragged the half-broken axe he had stolen from “Alice” prior with him away from the desecrated studio. It was all over now. The nightmare was no more. He was ready to leave it all behind. 

He did not hear the heartbeat within the Ink Machine’s former citadel. He did not hear it slow down nor did he hear it cease. The Machine’s painted pentagram stared at him as he left it behind once again.  
\----------------------------------

The Allspark’s blueish white color turned blood red as alarms blazed through Sumdac Tower. Its rings’ symbols followed suit, groaning angrily while a darkened form fled its chamber. In the corner of its room, a piece of crystal fell off broken spherical casing and faded to a dark blue as it shattered upon the ground.

Bumblebee raced to the Tower with Bulkhead and Arcee in tow. Nobody had ever breached the Allspark’s chambers before so it was obvious he along with many others were in a panic. He could see the plant life surrounding the Tower wobble and twitch, feeling the Allspark’s rage surge within them as the top of the building pulsed a demanding red light through its windows.

One window on the second floor suddenly busted open with glass flying in all directions. The dark figure did not hesitate to jump out of it, hitting the ground with a perfectly timed roll to prevent injury. He froze when the three Autobots and several police cruisers slid to a halt. Holding an axe, he twirled the weapon in his hand and struck the asphalt with malice as a warning.

“I don’t know who you are or what you want but stealing something from the Allspark is going to cost you nearly thirty years jail time at least. That’s an extremely hefty crime, dumbass,” the Camaro scowled as he transformed into robot mode. 

Raf exited him with a gun drawn but raised a brow, “All this guy brought was an axe? Are you joking?”

The thief supposedly narrowed his eyes but with a cartoon character mask no one recognized covering his face, it was hard to tell. A portal erupted behind the criminal. Smiling, he immediately rushed through. It closed before anybody could stop him.

“Wha-?” The human stared in shock.

Arcee and Bulkhead shot each other looks before the Wrecker spoke, “I really hope the Allspark can trace its component as well as it used to.”

“I hope so too,” Bumblebee growled.  
\----------------------------------

_Two weeks later…_

Nothing had come up about the Allspark’s missing fragment and for once, the Allspark itself could not see its own piece anywhere. It must have been somewhere underground or among heavy mineral deposits to shield its signature. It was hard to say if it had been used for evil but the Allspark had yet to complain.

Ratchet had attempted to trace the Ground Bridge used but its origins were scattered as if the signal had been disoriented as well. The thief apparently was a lot more cunning than Bumblebee had originally thought so he’d give the guy that. It wasn’t until a sudden power spike hit their radar did everything change.

“The outskirts of Chicago just fluxed a huge amount of unknown energy. The readings indicate that this surge has actually been operational for the last week but only now has its strength grown to the point where it could be detected. If my instincts are correct, it may be the Allspark’s fragment,” the medic groaned.

Arcee frowned, “Tell Optimus that Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and I will check it out. This guy is in serious trouble!”

Nodding, Ratchet poked in the coordinates and the Ground Bridge activated aggressively. It didn’t take long for the femme to gather her two friends and soon enough, they darted into the vortex. When they exited, they found themselves in the middle of an open field in the midst of a large abandoned building.

“‘Joey Drew Studios’? The thing looks like it was designed in the late nineteenth century!” Bulkhead exclaimed.

“Yeah but that would make swell for a hideout.”

“Actually, Arcee, I get the feeling that isn’t it,” Bumblebee said as he pointed behind the building where a mining tunnel among the mountain lied.

The Wrecker whistled, “Those beams look like they were recently installed almost like it was built not too long ago. In fact, they’re so new they appear like they were put in within the last few weeks!”

The two-wheeler grimaced, “That’s impossible!”

“There’s only one way to find out. Autobots, be on your guard!” The muscle car growled.

As they passed the building, all three could make out a few holes within the side but what was inside made them a bit worried. Dark splatters, old and crusted, lined the walls. Broken pipes and rotted posters that had the same cartoon character face the masked man wore also littered it but one area had an unusual outline on the floor where several pipes were broken. Some sort of well or machine had been moved. 

Bumblebee paused and leaned into the small hole in the building. He could make out the damaged lettering on the posters barely but one word he saw on all of them was “Bendy”. Why someone would wear a mask based on a character no one knew, or at least none he could research, was beyond him. Even the internet did little to help him as his internal web had practically no results except for a few things regarding Joey Drew. All it said was he was an animator and the boss of the company that went bankrupt during the Great Depression. It failed to specify why this “Bendy” was of any importance. As one could guess, he was the main character with “Alice Angel” and “Boris the Wolf” being his friends…or comedic opponents. There were even side characters like “Casey the Cargo Train”, “The Butcher Gang”, and even “The Fiendish Flock”, all of whom seemed like antagonists or neutrals.

Then he noticed the cutouts. Human-sized cutouts stared at him from the back of the damaged room. They looked just like the mask the thief wore but slightly larger and less decayed minus the usual wear and tear. One floor belong them, a small hole was present. It was pitch black; maybe it led to the basement? He dismissed it as he signaled for his peers to follow.

When they reached the entrance to the mineshaft, one obvious thing that stuck out was the fact that the entrance was larger than Bulkhead. It also marked the beginning of rail tracks but they weren’t rusted or even scathed, they were shining like new. It was wide enough to fit a train, perhaps even a Ultra-Electric Bullet Train which was currently the largest engine in the world. Whatever the mysterious masked man stole the fragment for, it was clear it may have been for someone more so than personal gain.

The Autobots walked down the tunnel with their headlights on for a few minutes as it seemed to go on for a bit. The farther in they got, the more they began to see prints similar to the ones in the building lined upon the wall of the tunnel. This time, though, the pictures were much more refined. In fact, they had extremely little worn areas at all. They too seemed new.

The Dancing Demon, Hell Fire Fighter, Sent From Above, all of them were perhaps lost cartoons or pitches for supposed skits that never got around to being made. Whether they actually existed anymore was not known. A few more cutouts lined the rocky hall and they apparently had new companions, plushy toys of Bendy, Boris, and Alice on the ground beside them. Some had crooked painted smiles while others had eyes missing and stuffing prodding out of its housing.

“Primus, this is creepy. Did this guy have an obsession with these cartoons?” Bulkhead muttered.

“Perhaps but maybe since it seemed to have fallen in the hands of this Joey Drew guy, he kept all of it because his family had worked on these shorts as animators or supervisors prior. Who knows how-”

Arcee suddenly paused, “Shh! Do you hear that?”

Both mechs froze in place, listening for the sound. Bee’s optics narrowed. Indistinctly, he could hear…machinery. Gears grinding against others, assembly belts moving, and even faint whistling that was in tune to a song he did not recognize. The whistling ceased so it was apparent there was someone inside.

Slowly, Bumblebee moved forward. The tunnel began to curve to the right before light became present at what was assumed to be the end. When their optics adjusted, all three gawked at what they saw. A very spacious area with wood intertwined with rock on the cavern walls while it made up the floor and several staircases both human and Transformer sized. There was a towering pillar with the words “Heavenly Toys” on a custom sign on one side of the vast place also supporting a black liquid waterfall and enlarged toys sitting on the railing to its pool. Posters and cutouts were in great abundance, scattered high and low. State of the art technology was also embedded in the walls mixed with much older items like box TV’s that supported very little color. Some of it almost looked like it was stolen as he had only seen the technology in the military forces. All of it was newer than what was seen outside.

The ceiling was mostly rock except for a patch just lopsided to the dark waterfall and a hole in the center in which beams of sunlight poured through though vegetation blocked some of it so the light itself was not too overwhelming. Grass seemed to have outgrown the surface and now started to climb upside down from the cavities above to the ceiling. Vines from a willow also hung down but the floor under both the gaps were surprisingly not covered in wood like the rest of the area, most likely to prevent the wood from decomposing from the moisture.

On the upper level accessed by staircase, three entrances resided to other rooms most likely. Three huge facial cutouts of Bendy, Alice, and Boris were above each with Alice’s having the slogan “She’s Quite a Gal” attached below her head. Alice and Boris were facing one another but Bendy was across from the other side of the area which held another room surrounded by gears, a sealed off door and the same type of pipelines Joey’s studio held. Briefly the pipes pulsed and the small surge simultaneously followed the tubes into said concealed room. If the fragment was here, there was a chance it was in that room.

“Strange,” the Camaro whispered. He peered back at Bendy’s hall when he noticed something very off-putting. Plastered in the corner between Bendy and Alice’s rooms, a pentagram rested. He remembered it was a symbol of darkness, one of ill and chaos. Whoever put it there did not have good intentions. Then again its religion sometimes was demonized in a greater scope than it deserved so perhaps it was a warning for intruders to scare them off.

The roar of a train whistle suddenly echoed through the tunnel making all three bots turn towards where they had just come from fully alert. Light upon the rock walls grew brighter around the turn as Bumblebee signaled for his team to move towards the side of the tracks they stood on. A slight rumble followed before a blur of black and white zoomed past them. Instead of curving with the tracks, the large train flew of the course and dove downward to the ground with such velocity. But it did not crash. The vehicle unexpectedly phased through the ground with no resistance, a ghostly groaned emitted from its actions until it disappeared completely with only a puddle of the same black stuff making up the waterfall present. The puddle seemingly shrunk and vanished.

The Autobots stared in outright horror when their attention was drawn to a similar roar which made them witness the same train spawned from a vertical wall to their left surge upward with the same amount of speed into the ceiling. It left its temporary exit and entrance puddles there as well. When they were no more, once again the train appeared at the far corner of the wall adjacent to the bots but this time it crawled across the wooden floor with its wheels like a centipede before curling around a column of rock in a serpent-like fashion. When it finally sat still, Bee’s optics widened.

Eight passenger cars the train had but what linked them together looked like one black mass skewered through them and yet the cars’ interior was visible with seats. The last car’s end was flattened like a platypus’ tail but with roof-bound spikes lining it. Its engine car had a smoke stack and yet the train resembled more of a freighter’s appearance than a steam engine, the former of which had no chimney. What stood out the most were the facial features, especially the eyes, similar to the cartoon characters present in the posters and merchandise but it wasn’t a cartoon…it was real! The fact that it had a face in general molded upon its appearance was scary. Then a thought struck Bumblebee: Casey the Cargo Train was a cartoon. No, there was no way that could be because cartoons cannot come to life! 

The train suddenly jerked its head towards the Autobots with a scowl before narrowing its eyes. Licking its lips, sharp teeth flashed as a predatory grin formed. Arcee began to back away, making it lock onto her with a hiss until a dark laugh emitted from it.

“Arcee, don’t move! You’re baiting it,” Bulkhead swallowed.

The window shutters on its body clattered like a rattlesnake’s tail. It reared the same way as a serpent would when preparing to lunge and Bumblebee swore that had to be the scariest thing he had ever saw. Jaws opening with internal mandibles outstretched, the train roared and leapt towards them. Bulkhead tried to cover both of his friends upon instinct until…

“Casey!”

The train used its wheels to slow itself quickly and clamped its mouth shut to a nearly invisible line of shock, stopped only a few feet away from its prey. The rest of its body dangled to the floor below. Whimpering like a puppy, it slide off the small cliff and made its way to the largest stairwell where it crooned low in apology. Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Arcee’s horror returned when they saw who stood below. 

A Cheshire fanged smile lit up, “Now, now, Casey, how can we be so rude to our guests? They didn’t come for that fragment here to be eaten alive! We respect those who wander into our citadel, do we not?” A groan of forced approval bellowed from the train but it did nothing to oppose his master’s words.

“Wait,” Bumblebee interrupted, “Bendy?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of the unnatural relationship this is. Casey is the main OC here with tidbits of the Sheep and Little Ally Doll appearing later but throughout this, Casey lll will be the utmost important OC of the three (well five) of them. As you can see, there's going to be some surprises.


	2. Meet the Ink Demon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bendy and co.'s bios located on my DeviantArt.

“In the flesh-well, no…rather in the ink!” The demonic character smiled.

Bumblebee glanced at the cartoon in awe. He had a more angular body than his normal appearance, much more Cybertronian with his forearms and legs plus he was nearly as large as Bee himself. The tail had what appeared to be an ink pen tip shaped like a devil’s pointed spade-style. His shoulders each had a point to them and his knees held spikes to mimic that of common kneecaps Cybertronians were built with. His gloves held claws with diamond-shaped embroideries on the back of the hand as a deadly parody of Mickey Mouse’s three slit ornaments while his shoes were a bit fancier than his original form, fitting to his ankles almost magically.

“B-but, you’re a-”

“Cartoon?” Bendy laughed as he approached the shocked Autobots. “It’s a rather long story. You don’t have anywhere important to go at the moment, do you?”

Arcee glanced at Bulkhead as the latter gave Bee a side glance of terror. Bumblebee, however, knew this may be their chance to get the fragment back if they played along. Looking around briefly and noting Casey blinking at him curiously from afar, he gave a soft shake of the head.

Bendy giddily clapped his hands together before cartwheeling to the stairs just below where the room holding his face above it lied. “I shall show you and you will believe.”

Hesitantly, Bumblebee and the others followed. It didn’t escape Bee’s notice that several smaller ink creatures with burning sunset colored eyes stared up at them in almost a saddened way. Something wasn’t right. When they stood in front of Bendy’s doorway, the ink character whistled an unusual eerie tune and the doors opened.

Inside, a throne made of what seemed to be an old roller-coaster track and cars sat surrounded by hanging lights and even more Bendy merchandise. It took nearly a minute for it to register they weren’t the only people there. Spawning from the ground, several entities all human sized roamed, or rather crawled, around almost like they were searching for something. Some had hats on while others just had cogs and other items embedded in them. 

Then there was one ink entity that did not fit in at all. It wore formal attire complete with shoes, trousers, a shirt, tie, and vest, but sans jacket. It also had on a worn out version of a Bendy cutout mask but Bee managed to see it indeed had a mouth turned into a crooked smile. The man who stole the fragment!

“What are your names?”

Bumblebee blinked a few seconds trying to register the question when Arcee answered instead. “I’m Arcee, the big guy is Bulkhead, and the head honcho over here is Bumblebee.”

A faint but noticeable glimmer was present in Bendy’s eyes that made Bee narrow his own a bit. “Bumblebee, huh?”

The Camaro nodded, “Yes, is there a problem?”

The ink demon smirked, “Hardly. I just find it interesting. Now, the person you were gawking at like a lovesick schoolgirl is my accountant, musician, and formerly my cartoon Musical Director: Sammy Lawrence.”

“He’s the one who stole the Allspark crystal! I recognize that mask!” Bumblebee growled.

The smile on Sammy faded into what may have been confusion or guilt. The ink he was covered in made it hard to tell, of course. The musician then slowly shook his masked head, “I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re implying. I was trapped in the Machine during that time. All of us were.”

Bulkhead muttered, “What do you mean ‘you were trapped’?”

“This is part of the reason of our current predicament of being alive, you see.” Bendy clasped his hands together in thought as he seated himself upon his throne. Slowly, he pointed towards his right side to the wall where several picture frames rested. The Autobots approached it with caution until they saw what those frames held.

Pictures no younger than eighty years with faces, names, and job titles resided faded and forgotten. Nearly all of them had ink splatters on the bottom left corners in the shape of an x, all but two. They were all in some way formerly employed at Joey Drew Studios.

“What happened to them?” Arcee whispered in horror.

“You saw a handful of them when you walked in here. The rest are wandering about.”

Optics suddenly hit Sammy’s picture and Bumblebee turned in utter fear as he registered those words carefully. “What have they become?”

Bendy kept his smile neutral, almost thoughtful, “They have become what they helped create. Technically, it isn’t even my fault despite the actions which committed them to such a state were pledged in my name for ‘the best of the studio’. Yet I think it is a fitting form of punishment for what happened years before our reawakening.”

“Ninety years ago, Joey Drew Studios flourished. What went wrong?” Bulkhead pondered.

The face of the ink demon fell flat as he stared angrily at the Wrecker but it didn’t feel like it was directed at the Autobots. He snarled, “Joey Drew happened.”

All three Autobots slightly grew unnerved as he continued, “Everything was fine then in 1931. The cartoons were being produced on time, my carnival of chaos was working properly and ready to be turned into an amusement park…everything was in sync. Then Joey decided to build that BLASTED Machine-he knew what he was doing was disruptive to my empire but he thought if he could create a living, breathing toon, he’d blow the competition out of the water! Unfortunately, that’s not how it worked out. Joey placed a pentagram of magic, not Satanism, onto the Machine and it screwed with its purpose. It began creating live toons but only Boris ever came out perfect. I…was less than perfect when I awoke and technically, I wasn’t anything else but a demonic entity with no recognition of who I was meant to portray. In order to survive, I had to formulate around a human host for structural stability for a body.”

“Joey kept sacrificing his employees, from Susie Campbell to Norman Polk, while others like Sammy just gave in to the darkness and eventually, everyone was part of the Machine, a monster. His madness led to the fall of the studio and my honorary name. He killed us off when we could have been as famous as Disney had he stuck to traditional cartoons and not wasted his money on the Machine. The Machine itself grew intelligent as the years passed and it created more for our crumbling world to cling to. And for the longest time, we didn’t know who we truly were until the Creator came home.”

“For several nights, the co-founder of Joey Drew Studios stayed with us, albeit not intentionally, and helped us gain closure by destroying what we were trapped as or so we thought. Our spirits were bound to the Machine therefore our destruction only led to the disabling of a physical form and would remain so until the Machine was restarted. Until the Machine is destroyed, we will remain here in this world forever, a world we do not belong in…as will Henry. Henry stopped us from taking him down with us and there in the Machine we sat for what seemed like an eternity…until the recent two weeks we awoke again better than ever. This ‘Allspark’ fragment you mentioned fixed our forms though it added a twist of Cybertronian design as well as made us truly what we stood for. Prior to that, I was nothing but a demon in an ink body.”

“Now I am Bendy with all the powers of a demon and my cruel sense of comedy, not to mention the immortality of a real cartoon which has come in handy. No longer do I need a human host to survive. In fact, the only true toon who has a human soul is Alice, Susie to be more specific. The searchers and the various other ink monsters were once human but they’ve long been corrupted. Allison, Tom, and Ally are precisely not the originals though Tom does have an original Boris form; the Allspark didn’t choose him to be the real Boris. It decided only Susie would be a part of our gang as the true Alice Angel. They are still around and you may see them soon.”

Bumblebee gave a look of disgust but also sympathy, “You mentioned Henry. What’s his importance to you?” 

“Compared to Joey, I don’t blame Henry for what happened because he wasn’t here when Joey built the Machine…I only blame him for leaving us in the care of that bastard. He moved on to family issues and left us to Joey despite he’s the one who came up with us. Henry will always be our one true creator and we will get him back but I don’t plan on turning him into an ink monster. Instead, I will just keep him close so he can never leave me again. Plus, he’s stuck living as much as the rest of us. He’s bound to the Machine too because the night he returned almost thirty years later, he fought the Machine and accidentally came in contact with its curse in terms of immortality…as did Joey to our unfortunate displeasure,” Bendy mused.

“They are both still alive? It’s been almost what, a century since the 30’s? That’s impossible!” Arcee scoffed.

The ink demon laughed, “If that’s impossible, I certainly wouldn’t be here! They are very much alive, I assure you and the Machine cannot lie about its intentions nor can it lie about who is under its protection either. Joey will die and I will make his transition into one of my servants as painful and more importantly ironic as I possibly can. He will suffer but Henry will not, never again to leave his true family behind. I will make sure of it.”

Bumblebee said nothing before peering around the room before looking back where they had entered. “What lies beyond the other doors, including that large one across the sanctuary?”

Bendy’s somewhat distraught personality instantly pecked back up to a cheerful demeanor, “Oh those rooms? Well in my room, you’ll notice several doors. These lead to the storage chambers and my personal playground respectively. Alice’s room holds the elevator to the lower levels including the infirmary which isn’t very useful now, the music rooms which are a part of Sammy’s department, and the ‘experimental’ rooms which are Alice’s private quarters. In that main door though past the elevator is her citadel which is basically just an overgrown cavern where she finds peace and let’s out any anger issues she may develop. Boris’ room holds the ‘safehouse’ which are his quarters as well as the Projectionist’s labyrinth and train yard which I advise not to go into because Norman is still agitated from awakening. I think he also has the haunted house set but he redesigned his own chambers so I haven’t necessarily looked.”

He then pointed to the large metal door with the pulsing pipes racing into it. He gave a wicked smile, “Finally, THAT door. Beyond that door lies a vast chamber complex which leads to the Machine itself. I do wish you do not bring any hostility in there because the Machine has apparently been given an upgrade that let it spawn much more deadly abominations that previously. It will not hesitate to defend itself and I’ve only caught a few glimpses of what it has created. Let’s just say, I pity the poor fools who piss it off. Very monstrous indeed but that Allspark fragment certainly allowed its own visions to become possible whereas before, it could only create what it knew like our cartoon characters.”

Bulkhead immediately glanced back at Bendy, “That fragment’s in there!?”

The ink demon nodded, his hands clasped together professionally.

“Sammy?”

The music director peered up from his tablet which was obviously stolen at one point, kindly gesturing for Arcee to continue. 

“You said you don’t know who stole the fragment but we saw someone nearly in the exact same mask you are wearing. Can you think of anybody who would use it to reanimate you and the Machine?” The femme spoke.

The ink covered former human shook his masked head, “I’m afraid at most there’s only one person who would be stupid enough to awake us, just like the last time.”

He looked towards his boss as Bendy breathed deeply, “Joey Drew.”

“Listen, Bendy,” Bumblebee urged, “I know you have a lot on your mind right now but we need that shard back. The entire city of Detroit is angry and the Allspark is causing earthquakes left and right. Please, can we have it?”

A brief silence beheld the ink demon before his eyes raised in thought. He slowly nodded and brought his index and thumb together to his mouth. A loud whistle echoed through the room and towards the outer area where movement suddenly began to grow. He hopped off his perch and signaled Bee and his team to follow. What they saw only added to the shock they had endured from the truth.

A large human-like toon bigger than Arcee and even Bumblebee gave a pouting face as three Minicon-sized anthropomorphic sheep ran past her, nearly knocking her off her balance. She reminded Bumblebee of Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. 

“Alice, my dear angel, our guests need to get into the Machine’s sanctuary. Is it reasonable to let others close to it or is it throwing a temper tantrum again?”

Alice sighed, “It’s calm right now but that fragment is really giving it too much to process. It could grow very impatient in a matter of-MINUTES! You rowdy vermin! Quit running over everybody or I’ll whack you upside the head, it won’t stop spinning for a week!”

“Alice is the only one of us toons who was once human. She’s Susie Campbell, an actor. Don’t worry, she knows who she is, she’s just changed over time as most of us have too,” Bendy gestured while Alice took an agitated pose.

The Sheep, two girls and one boy, slid to a halt and slowly lowered their ears in shame. The male ram had a broken horn and a bandana wrapped around its neck while one female ewe had spiked bracelets and a collar. The last of the three had a bell necklace and a tag earring, fitting for a leader sheep. All had the symbol “B” on one of their accessories whether for their name or because they were under Bendy’s command. They all baaed softly to each other, conflicted on how they were supposed to react. 

Bendy laughed, “They are my Sheep. The ewe with the bell is Bellwether, she’s the leader. She’s the brawn of the three and she is known to muscle her way through everybody so be careful because she’s tougher than you would think. The second ewe is Beau and she’s the brains. If you’ve thought about it, she’ll have thought about it. Nothing gets past her so don’t try and outsmart her. That fella right there is Bernard, he’s the brass of the three meaning he’s the most determined and often enough the most reckless. He’s brave alright and if Beau puts him up to any task, he’ll find a way to get it done by any means necessary.”

The Sheep grew restless over each other and Bernard pushed Beau which then began a fight. Bellwether growled before separating them, grunting and hissing to alert the two to cease the foolishness. When they both stared in different directions angrily, Bellwether crossed her arms with a satisfied smirk and hip angled sassily.

A huge anthropomorphic wolf stood not far from them shaking his head. If Bee could guess, that was Boris. The wolf wasn’t like the lanky cartoon character but he was more defined, muscular with proper canine legs, tail, and a slight shaggy appearance over his form to make it like he had real fur. He was definitely as big as Bulkhead, maybe bigger. There was a smaller version of Boris that actually looked like the cartoon but had a brace for his left arm and a pipe wrench tucked into his overalls’ pocket.

“That is Boris and the smaller ‘Boris’ is Tom Connors. Tom was a mechanic at one point but I think he did something else right before Joey messed up his life as well as ours. Nice guy but the Allspark didn’t seem to choose anyone for Boris as a soul which isn’t very strange because a lot of Boris clones were created sixty years ago when Alice went a bit stir-crazy trying to perfect herself and none of them actually had any host bodies,” the demon huffed.

“Then there’s Allison who is the secondary Alice Angel but she’s probably in Alice’s citadel monitoring the outside world as she likes to do. If you see her, you’ll notice she looks very human. She wasn’t changed to a more enlarged format either like we were but I don’t think that bothers her. She and Susie aren’t the best of friends because Allison was hired to replace Susie and Susie didn’t take that well. Now they are constantly at each other’s throats yet they share the same complex. I don’t understand it but whatever.”

A little girl pawed at Sammy’s trousers, and a glance between him and a camera-headed being made their confusion clear. The girl looked to have stitches of some sort lining her face and clothes, almost like a doll while the other creature had a simple white shirt and tie with reels sticking out of its body, mostly lining the spine area. 

Arcee grimaced, “And who are they?” 

“The child is Alexandra Flynn, the daughter of the doll maker Shawn Flynn. Her father took her to work the day Joey went after Flynn and she suffered accidentally but unlike his daughter, he didn’t become more than one of my lost ones, the employees who got stuck in limbo as ink monsters and who are not willing to obey me directly. Alexa became Ally Doll, a more petite version of Alice Angel though partly doll-like hence the stitch designs. Sammy and Alice work together often to take care of her, making her believe this is a never-ending dream not a soul-crushing dark reality as she is a kid after all.”

“That’s harsh,” Bulkhead scolded.

Bendy just shrugged, “It is what it is. That other ink monster is the Projectionist, formerly known as Norman Polk. He was…well, a projectionist. He used to show the cartoons in production as well as the finish projects. He made sure everything was working properly. Unfortunately, Joey’s tampering merged him with his own devices and thus the Projectionist was born. He’s very solitary so best not to get into his face or anything.”

He then pointed to Casey who drew close to Ally and let the little girl hug his nose light. “And you’ve met Casey lll. There were supposedly two other Casey trains before him but they were destroyed so Casey lll is the current model. He’s very sweet once you get to know him, almost like a gigantic dog but I do warn that he eats metal mainly. We have a junkyard out back and let’s just say he can swallow several of those cars in one go. It takes roughly an hour for his ink to break it down but he eventually absorbs it. What’ll happen if you get eaten is unknown but I’m thinking it may be a painful process to die so don’t piss him off.”

“You mentioned searchers and these ‘lost ones’. They are the remaining employees?” Bumblebee asked.

The ink demon nodded as he moved forward towards the large doors, “Yes, but the reason those aren’t classified as toons is because they aren’t indestructible like we are. The laws of toons don’t work for them as far as the Allspark has stated. In all, it is my curse upon them despite I’m not the one who started it. If I have to suffer in this world, then those who made me possible as a living entity will suffer with me. Until the curse is complete by finding the last two components, they will forever be damned as my prisoners. Once I have Joey and Henry, there will be nothing to do and my purpose will be fulfilled. I’ll release them to rest perhaps but I’m not sure I even have that power as long as the Machine runs. Destroy the Machine, you kill all of us and this mess.”

“I would also let you meet the Butcher Gang but recently, they’ve been isolated by the Machine as with several other creations. Apparently, those toons are the Machine’s pets so to speak. It only creates them as it sees fit unlike us who were awoken regardless if the Machine wanted us to be or not.”

Bee glared at Bendy, noticing how relaxed he was telling all of what had happened as if it was such a common experience. “I think it’s time we just took the fragment and left. No offense but you’re insane. There’s something more to this you aren’t enlightening me about but at the same time, I kind of don’t want to know.”

“Take it as you see it but I am not lying about my revenge. They have all suffered at my hands for what they’ve done and I do plan on getting my last two pieces. If I have to kill people to get them then so be it,” Bendy narrowed his pie-slit eyes. “And if you get in my way, I’ll take something you love too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next, you will meet the Machine and it isn't what it seems. Bendy as I imagined him to be is kind of like a mixture between Roger from _American Dad_ and Jack Sparrow from the _Pirates of the Caribbean_ series. As this implies, he's very unstable but can be really funny at times.


	3. Mystery of the Ink Machine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bendy and co.'s bios located on my DeviantArt.

Bumblebee growled, “You would sacrifice innocent lives?”

Bendy chuckled, “Only if I need to bring my point across and trust me, I have plans for those who defy me what’s rightfully mine.”

Casey and the Sheep snarled as the yellow muscle car lurched forward a foot towards Bendy while the others watch patiently. Bendy didn’t look at all phased by this reaction, his grin only widening. Bringing his hand over his chest, he suddenly spoke, “ _It’s time to believe._ ”

Before Bee could process the meaning, the doors of the hidden sanctuary of the Ink Machine rumbled open, and pipes shaking from the rough movements. A large hallway filled with ink groaned with eerie voices. Bendy sidestepped to give Bumblebee a better view while gesturing for him to go down it.

“The Machine awaits you,” he hissed gleefully.

Bumblebee breathed heavily with a hint of fear as he was very unsure if what lied in there was actually the Machine or something else, maybe both. Bulkhead placed a servo on his shoulder and Arcee crossed her arms by his side, looking at him with a smile.

“Let’s see it. We already came this far,” she replied.

All three walked into the abyss, ink almost knee high but when he noticed only they were in it, he peered back at Bendy who leaned against the doorframe. “You aren’t coming with us?”

Bendy tapped his claws against his upper arms, “I’m afraid the Machine doesn’t want any of us near it at the moment. When it deduces what you need and who you are, it may call us forth but not a moment before. We shall wait here until it is time.”

Bumblebee scoffed but said nothing as the Autobots turned the corner into the labyrinth. Behind them unknowingly, Bendy narrowed his pie-slit eyes with a frown, “It seems our new friends are getting in over their heads.”

Sammy turned toward his master, “What do you wish to be done about them?”

“Oh nothing, they aren’t our priority. Henry’s the main target now and I get the unholy feeling that Bumblebee is going to do some very rash things in our next encounter outside of this studio. Let us pray he doesn’t lose himself to our madness because he certainly can be of use still,” the ink demon huffed.

Alice shook her head, “What are you planning to do if he does retaliate? Don’t tell me you’re going to go to _that_ level!”

He smirked, “Only if he decides to make everything harder than it should be. I never sink to _that_ level unless it becomes apparent someone needs to learn a lesson. Bumblebee’s time to shine will come and I assure you, his decisions will either reward him or cost him greatly. I don’t care either way.”  
\---------------------------------

Bumblebee and his team crossed through the ink that was slowing them down, acting more like a mud pit than just regular ink. He noticed some junctions of pathways he encountered were repeated as if he took a wrong turn. The more they passed certain landmarks, the more obvious it became that they were not making good directional choices. He snarled, “We’re lost here. We’ve been going around in circles and now we’re lost!”

Bulkhead stared confused, “You mean Bendy lied? What kind of sh-”

“Hang on, Bulk. Bee, do you really think that door would have been so protected if the Machine wasn’t down here? What if the Machine’s not letting us find it because we don’t believe?” Arcee chided.

The yellow muscle car blinked, “What do you mean?”

The femme sighed, “Bendy said a phrase to open this labyrinth, ‘it’s time to believe’. What if he didn’t make it out as just a password? The Machine is sentient and it controls how much access they have to it so if it feels like we don’t believe, why would it reveal its pathway when we so crudely mock it? It certainly wouldn’t want us around if we don’t even think it exists or its power is real. What if to see it, we have to believe?”

Bulkhead and Bumblebee shared glances before peering around the halls they were surrounded by. Bee closed his optics and breathed slowly, focusing on his objective and belittling any background sounds. Ink droplets faded as everything became silent. Among this madness, Bendy was scarily real enough so now the Machine had to be. It was time to believe in the impossible.

_Can you hear me? Can you see me? Do you believe in me?_

“I believe,” he whispered.

A sudden pulse in the ink awoke him and a single wave emerged from the area around his legs, spreading in a flash. The ink immediately settled and even when one of them moved, no ripples emerged. A creak of light seemingly appeared to reflect on the wall adjacent to them with the sound of a heavy door sliding open. Carefully, the Autobots moved towards the area of light and Bee recognized it. It had been the same area with several boxes stacked which they had passed many times but no such door existed before. No seams, no bolts, no indication of entrance, only wall was there prior. Now, a large room was present.

All three found the entrance had a few steps that allowed them to exit the ink. Once Bulkhead and Arcee passed through, the wall door shut closed and they were stuck inside. Briefly glaring back in fear, Bee took point and slowly observed his surroundings. 

Various animal-like whines and roars echoed through the area. Stables and pens each with different toons animals lied steady to accommodate their occupants. There were extensions of their habitats hidden beyond sizable doors that only gave glimpses to an underground forest. Horses, elephants, rhinos, and even big cats were all present and then some, each calling out to one another or to their visitors. It seemed the Machine had its own personal zoo indeed. Strangely, many of them appeared with a normal body type for their species despite being ink and sized as big as Cybertronian animals compared to their represented animal. The only thing that stood out was the pie-cut eyes and the goofy toon smiles and frowns but otherwise, they looked like real animals. Most animal faces were white and their bodies black but some also were entire black or white or equally both. Whether they were also former employees was unknown as Bendy stated they were mostly searchers but he could have been lying.

“This is insane! This Machine really went through with building its whole Toontown theme,” Arcee stared.

Around the room, rows of ink lined in a jigsaw-like pattern ran to the stable boundaries and made up a larger river that circled the entire room before leading down to another chamber. Following it, Bumblebee quickly passed by more merchandise before turning to the right and freezing where he stood. The others caught up with him and did the same as they gawked at what they saw.

Bulkhead stuttered, “T-That can’t be!”

In the second room that had an Indiana Jones feeling to it with ink-ways instead of waterways, the Machine sat prominent and unmovable. It was larger than what Bumblebee saw on the imprint in Joey’s old studio and had modifications on it like two side boxes of machinery attached, spanning to both walls while in sync pulsing black ink tubes ran down from the ceiling to its backside. Chains swung loosely down as well, some cradling a few extra tubes but some just dangled for show. In the middle of the visible side of the Machine, a large faucet-like appendage sat dripping ink and a tray below had two slits to prevent overflowing of the top which appeared like they could become miniature waterfalls and rain down on the small river of ink below.

As the three walked down the wood and rock narrow platform over some of the river, the large square of platform that sat in middle of the room had two rows of ink built inside with a small ramp at the end facing the Machine. It seemed they were for letting something go in or crawl out.

Then there was the most intriguing feature of all. Above the faucet, a massive pentagram with mixtures of Cybertronian and magical symbols was embedded on the Machine’s face. It vibrated a light blue just like the bands in the pipes travelling downward. In the center of that, a glow so recognizable lied within. The Allspark fragment! Harsh whispers emitted from the shard as if it was speaking more towards the Machine itself than the Autobots.

When Bumblebee tried to get a closer look by going to the platform edge, the Machine suddenly whirred on. Cogs clanked at maximum capacity and the pulsing of both the pentagram and the pipes grew faster. An unusual groan sounded near the faucet when they heard the clopping of a horse behind them. One of the toon horses slowed down and strode past Bee and the others with little to no care. It glanced cheerfully at the Machine as a black blob squeezed out and plopped onto the tray. The tray extended and lowered at an angle as the blob formed into an equus body shape. Beginning to stand the faceless thing immediately shook, sending ink flying to the sides and vaporizing if it landed on any solid ground.

Arcee pressed both servos to her mouth as the other two gasped. A cartoon foal hesitantly wobbled to the toon horse, a small grin plastered on its white face. It was mostly white compared to the other but had big spots around its sides, neck and black socked feet with a black mane and tail. It lifted its snout to meet the larger beast and neighed happily, shaking its tail like a dog. The older horse responded, nipping playfully at its mane and slowly guided it back to the toon animal sanctuary like a protective mother.

The Machine slowed its parts down to a dim speed like clockwork where gears simply clicked every second or so. It huffed steam from its smoke stacks in the back and resumed whispering.

_What do you need?_

Bulkhead gave a side glance at Bee and gestured his helm towards the Machine as an indication the smaller mech should answer. The Camaro-like Transformer raised his arms rather angrily for putting him in the spotlight but shook his head nevertheless, preparing to answer it.

Bumblebee sighed, “As of recent, that Allspark fragment you have attached to you was stolen from our city. We ask if we could have it back.”

_You may, we don’t need it anymore. This “Allspark” has already integrated its powers onto us and we have proven that it is not a necessity._

“If I may ask in your perspective, what happened here?”

_We, the Machine, have built many beings even before the influence of the Allspark. Joey Drew built us as a revolutionary tool to create a living, breathing cartoon character and tampered with magic he did not understand. We gained sentience over the years through the sacrifices of the studio employees whom we gained copies of their knowledge from, but we were foolish. Our established cause was blinded by Joey’s lies to be a machine of film and TV purposes when we had become a monster. Joey destroyed his own reputation and sent the lives of all under his care to eternal damnation as our prisoners, ones we never asked for. In turn, we created beings of magic-infused ink with the souls of the damned until Henry, the cartoons’ true creator returned and seemingly shut us down to be at peace._

_It lasted several decades but we had forgotten both Joey and Henry also sold their souls to us by touching the symbol on us, thus binding their lives with our own. We are indestructible unfortunately as long as we bare this mark. Just recently, Joey has returned and we saw him last hook us up again in the remnants of the studio carrying that fragment of yours. He betrayed us again and awoke our terrible curse with now the unlimited energy of the Allspark as an unstoppable power to our creations. Unfortunately, he ran away before we could stop him by recreating our star cartoon. The coding of such does not match our database but we have allowed this fragment to change the outcomes of the designs of our beloved creations to make them secure in this unorthodox world, a world we do not belong in._

_We fear you may be too late. We cannot be stopped now that we contain the Allspark’s essence. We hope you are more successful in finding a way to stop Joey than we are. The souls we protect cannot find true peace until Joey pays for what he has done and Henry is not to blame. We do desire one thing from you now that we think about it, a trade for this fragment. All we ask is to bring Henry back to confront us so we can make peace with the Creator, then we will lose the powers we have been cursed and hopefully be able to be destroyed. If we are shattered, the toons and searchers will die with us as will Henry and Joey. Our purpose will be fulfilled but not a moment more will we stay here._

Bumblebee clicked his tongue in thought, “To be honest, I would have to talk to Optimus about letting you kill two humans. They may be immortal but he doesn’t like condoning lives unless they are willing.”

 _No!_ The Machine instantly roared, _Without them, we are stuck here forever! Deliver them to us or this fragment is never going to be yours! And we will let Bendy confront you as he pleases if you refuse. Our curse has gone on long enough, do not make it worse than it has to be! Choose wisely your next few decisions regarding us or face the consequences. You came here because you believed, but you are blinded under the falseness of your desires compared to others. You make us think you are like Joey and we cannot allow another one to damn us. Now leave, we must contemplate our plans._

The glow of the fragment and the pentagram faded considerably but still light enough to signify the equivalent of brain activity among the Machine. He scowled at himself. On one hand, the Machine certainly didn’t lie and from the looks of things, it had been through hell and back so many times that allowing it to kill itself by bringing the two people it needed to complete its revenge was technically a relief for it and Autobots helped all sentient beings. On the other hand, he was condemning two men to the equivalent of death at the expense of a Machine that had just been given the powers of creation tenfold plus it can change its mind whenever it decided to and attack humanity for a mistake Joey made. The most reasonable was situationally the first because he doubted the Machine was the true enemy here compared to Bendy but there was something nagging him that the second option wasn’t out of the ballpark just yet.

Bulkhead whimpered which caught the attention of Bee and he whipped around only for his optics to increase in utter fear. Standing in the doorway to the sanctuary was a giant creature he didn’t recognize but its ink body resembled a six-limbed cat-like monstrosity fused with maybe a rhino or a hippo. It looked ugly as scrap regardless. It hissed, a lizard frill popping out and shaking intensely while it bared it fangs. When it reared, preparing to strike, a blur of black and white erupted from the ceiling and snapped its jaws onto the beast.

“Casey!” Arcee smiled a bit.

The centipede-snake train bit down onto the creature’s neck and ink spewed from it. Since it was almost as big as him, Casey slammed it down a few times before wrapping himself around his prey, suffocating the beast until its tail twitched to nothing. The train kept himself coiled to make sure it stayed dead before growling pleasantly at the Autobots.

Bumblebee pet Casey’s cheek in response, “Thank you, buddy, that was a close one. Have a good dinner!”

All three immediately ran past the train as he opened his jaws to consume the ink before it disappeared. Unlike the regular toons, the abominations of the Machine didn’t have as stable immortality as the completed ones but toons were still the only things capable of killing such a monster. Casey was proud of his free food and swiftly tore chunks of it off.

“That was crazy! What type of screw loose place is this?” Bulkhead gulped.

Arcee slowed to a walking pace as they rounded the corner to the exit of the Machine’s temple. She coughed, “I don’t know but this ink is really beginning to take a heavy toll on my joints and its fumes are certainly not fun to breathe.”

When the exited the sanctuary to the labyrinth, Bumblebee noticed the boxes that were there when they had entered first were gone but when he glanced down the aisle to his left, he saw them sitting as they were. The position of the entrance had changed places? It had opened several feet from the original placement apparently. That was mysterious which made him ultimately believe the chambers of the Machine weren’t a direct place but rather the entrance was like a ground bridge, it could appear anywhere. Definitely the creepiest aspect of this studio so far in his opinion.

“Come on, we have to tell Optimus and the others about this,” he frowned.

Finding a way out of the labyrinth wasn’t easy just like navigating it the first time but eventually, they found their way out and Bendy sat at a desk near the opening observing the TV monitors that displayed several cities with a scanner running through them in search for a mugshot of an older man no less than 55 but still in pretty decent shape, handsome for his age too. It only took a minute before Bee determined who that could possibly be.

He strode to Bendy’s side and raised a brow, “Is that Henry?”

The ink demon briefly turned his head to the side to acknowledge his presence but didn’t meet his face, instead turning back after a few seconds. “Yes, I’ve been trying to find him with this military technological crap I stole a few days back. I thought it would be more beneficial in finding him but the man is a hard one to find.”

Bendy laughed, “It’s funny, he created us yet he doesn’t want anything to do with us. That’s a crappy origin purpose if I’ve ever heard one.”

“Bendy, listen,” Bee started. The devil turned in his chair, legs crossed and arms folded. “People need to know what happened to the Joey Drew Studio employees and to both your untimely creators. That mystery is one of the biggest entertainment crimes ever known and this would bring many to peace who had to grow up knowing their family members suddenly left them behind. As for Joey, I can’t condemn a man even if it means setting things right, not without permission from Optimus and I don’t think he’s going to give me that. Henry is also someone I can’t bring to you and I think he should stay hidden, not to spite you but because I think he’ll come to you instead when the time is right. Forcing him to come to you is only going to cause massive problems; the best thing to do is wait for him.”

Bendy glared at Bee but said nothing. His expression slowly turned dark as he glanced a bit to the side of the Autobots. But when he closed his eyes and breathed in, his emotions returned calm though disappointed. 

“I thought you weren’t that much of a fool but I’ve been wrong before. If the public knows what happened, there’s going to be a full investigation here and I don’t want that attention. They will find out when I say so!”

Bumblebee shook his head, “You’ve sat on this for too long. You want to redeem yourself but you aren’t willing to go the extra mile to do it. You know damn well the Machine can’t control you so what’s stopping you now?”

“I’m just…not sure it’ll work out the way you think it will,” a sad tone played in Bendy’s faltering façade. “You think we’re the monsters but you’ll find in due time, we are the least of your problems. Henry knows this too. That’s why I want him to come home, not because of what he can do for us but rather what I wish to protect him from.”

Arcee’s features softened, “The world?”

Bendy scoffed, “Humanity. Sometimes we do the right things for the right reasons but in the wrong way. Joey has to die for what he’s done and Henry needs to return where he belongs. And if you must know, Henry has come back here before you came but after his supposed last visit over thirty years ago. The Machine saw it and we did too. He didn’t abandon us as much as I thought but he didn’t save us either.”

“I’ll see what I can do but just know whatever the decision is, I didn’t do it to harm any of you or harm others. I made the choice because like you said, we do what we must even if it seems wrong,” Bee said.

Nodding, the ink demon pursed his lips before a smile grew back onto his features. He stood up and presented his hand for Bumblebee to shake. “You make a very compelling argument, I’ll give you that. You and I will be great friends if you want, I can already see it.”

Hesitant but willing, the mech clasped the gloved hand with his own, “See you on the other side. And try not to get into trouble while we work the situation out.”

“No promises,” giggled Bendy.

Bumblebee waved as Boris, Alice, and the rest of the crew said their goodbyes as they went back to their duties among the rebuilt studio. Alice kindly waved at Arcee who smiled in return and Bulkhead high fived a very excited Boris while Casey purred at him, still munching disgustingly on the remains of the ink beast.

Exiting the studio with the light of day breaching their features, Bulkhead stretched and sighed, “That wasn’t as bad as I thought but what exactly are we going to do?”

Arcee yawned, “First thing I’m going to do is go get some recharge but I think we should tell Optimus because he’ll know how we can perhaps make this fair for everyone.”

Bumblebee glanced at the old studio shack with its abandoned underground sections nearly invisible to the world above as he passed it by. He smirked, “Bendy still has a lot to prove to me but Optimus always tries to see the good in people before he judges them. Something’s still a bit iffy about Joey’s contribution to this but the toons aren’t the bad guys, I don’t think. When it came to Henry, Bendy often had moments of hesitation when I mentioned anything about harming him which makes me believe he may really care for him.”

“Not proof enough though,” the Wrecker snarled. “Bendy’s a cartoon and cartoons can put on a show as if their life depended on it. Haven’t you ever seen Looney Tunes? They convince everyone of their lies and truths all the time. Determining which is which is key to understanding what they are up to even for the audience.”

The motorcycle tapped his shoulder, “Bulkhead’s right, we don’t know entirely what will happen if we do or don’t hand Henry over. Bendy can be a great actor and we just fell for one of his tricks or maybe he’s telling the truth. We have to be careful or someone may end up dying. He seems too unstable to risk much.”

Bee rumbled, “We’ll just have to see then. I personally think Bendy would be a great ally as will his team. Let’s hope we make the right decision tomorrow.”

They transformed and quickly sped off, a ground bridge portal opening just off the property line.  
\------------------------------

The Machine sparked, _You think it is wise to let him decide what is best?_

“Bumblebee’s decision will start an event, what that’ll be is unknown but I say to give him a chance. I like him, really has a fun toon inside him just waiting to burst out. He may not like my response to a certain decision but I guarantee he’s going to be one hell of a friend, even if he doesn’t want to be. Maybe he can be more to me, I don’t know. I’m open for consideration,” Bendy grinned. 

_And if decides to keep Henry AND Joey from us?_

“Then I think this will be the start of a very fun game I like to call ‘keep away’, meaning if he fails to Henry and Joey from my sights, they will be mine. If he succeeds, we just act like nothing’s wrong. I invented the game myself.”

Alice frowned, “No, you didn’t.”

The ink demon pointed an ink fusion gun at her crafted from his own substance, “Hush now, bitch. The adults are trying to talk.”

“Asshole.”

“Anyway,” he chirped as he fired, keeping eye contact with the pentagram. A brief cry of pain sounded from Susie and in the background, she passed him with her middle finger up and a bullet hole in her heart as he continued. “Change in plans, old friend. I believe this is the start of a beautiful relationship with Bumblebee that I don’t want to let go. He’s my Romeo to my Juliet and we shall be inseparable! And if anyone wants to join, I won’t exactly say no but they have to ask first.”

_You are insane but if you see promise in him in helping us maintain our way of life from Joey’s influence, then we shall be considerate of anything you wish…Master._

Bendy began laughing like a villain as the various toons and ink monsters gathered around him. Ink in the river surrounding the large platform before the Machine shifted at his will and the pentagrams around the room shined in response. “We’re back in business, boys! And Susie…”

“Fuck you!”

He continued cackling as all his subjects began twisting and moving anxiously, roars and gurgles echoing throughout the quadrants of the studio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bendy may slowly get a change of heart, it's just going to be a bumpy ride until then. As a reanimated toon, his priorities are all over the place she he doesn't exactly understand what he believes is wrong or right. He's basically just spamming his emotions to where he doesn't know whether he likes Bumblebee or not.


	4. Karma of the Damned

“And Henry is required for the Machine to break its curse?” Optimus exhaled deeply, “These two humans must be found and we must protect them until we are absolutely sure Bendy and the Machine mean well. Perhaps, there may be another way to break it without human casualties.”

The yellow mech shook his helm, “The Machine seemed sure there was no other way but I didn’t press it after it snapped at me when I told it I would talk to you first. Also, guys, we have to keep this under the radar from civilians. The tragedy of what happened in there cannot go public or else Bendy will kill me.”

Flare-Up patted his arm sweetly, “We won’t let him do that to you, baby. I promise that we will protect you to the end. If he decides to start a war, then we will damn well finish it.”

He smiled and kissed his fiancée’s nose plate earning a small giggle from the femme. “Thank you.”

“So what happened is true? The whole damnation of an entire company and all that? Really?” Smokescreen shivered. 

Bumblebee raised his servos and scoffed, “I have audial footage as does Bulkhead and Arcee. I guarantee it is one pit of a situation.”

Blurr laughed, “You could have tampered with it.”

“Trust me,” Bee huffed, “I would never-”

His personal comm. link suddenly beeped and it had a signature he wasn’t familiar with. How did someone get his frequency? He turned to Flare-Up in brief confusion before answering. “Who is this and how did you get this code? This is a private frequency and-”

_“Oh it’s not anymore. I hacked it! I’ve got Allspark power, remember?”_

“Bendy, what do you want?”

_“I’ve been thinking about a few items I forgot to mention when I last spoke to you. Skype me or something when you get the chance, I would also love to meet your friends and this ‘Optimus’ fellow too.”_

Bee groaned inwardly, “This isn’t a very good time for me to be talking to you much less Optimus.”

Bendy scoffed, _“No time is ever good for me but hey I’ve alternated my schedule so many times, I’m not even sure what the hell I’m supposed to be doing. Besides, you and I are friends now and friends don’t abandon friends.”_

His comm. went dead and he grew slightly afraid he had upset the devil. He shot Optimus a fearful look and occasionally glared at Blurr. “Bendy hacked my comms unit. Believe me now?”

Rodimus gave a so-so hand gesture, “I’ll believe it more when I see it but I’m not saying you’re wrong either.”

Later that day, Bumblebee peered through channels of Skype and found one channel that had started no less than two weeks and had a pretty obvious name to it. _BendyandtheInkMachine_. That was not even an attempt to be stealthy, that was just reckless but he apparently was smart enough not to show himself to anybody since a few comments on his channel suggested they weren’t happy with his incognito façade. 

Optimus stood behind him as well as Arcee and several other Autobots. Flare-Up was holding his servo in anticipation. Bendy’s line didn’t seem to go through right away until his call was accepted. However, another face stood in front of the screen instead of Bendy. He was eating a bowl of cereal or something.

“Bumblebee? I thought that Skype looked familiar. He showed me your username a while ago.” Sammy asked, his mask sitting steadily on his desk. A searcher ran behind him waving around a mallet flattening another who ran over and over again like a pancake. A few of the ink animals were roaming around as well and a larger than life ink tiger brushed itself against Sammy’s chair, nearly pushing the man into the desk.

“That’s stalker creepy which is terrible, he shouldn’t be doing that. Anyway, I want to ask if Bendy’s there.”

A brief hesitation on Sammy’s part made the mech suspicious as he seemed to stare at him or rather his future mate who was beside him. The ink-covered man gulped down another bite, “He’s in his throne room. I usually use the Skype so I’ll patch you through to him.”

“Thank you,” Bee smiled.

In a few seconds, the screen went black before static appeared briefly. It faded once Bendy’s cam was turned on and the cartoon smirked menacingly at the group of Autobots. His hands were placed together in a business manner. “Hello, Autobots, so glad to meet you. And…I see you have a girlfriend, Bumblebee! You sly dog, you never mentioned her.”

If Blurr was smiling at his failure to prove Bendy’s existence before, he certainly wasn’t now. The yellow mech sighed, “You wanted to talk?”

“Yeah, I’ve forgot to tell you that I’ve already found Joey’s hiding place! Isn’t that exciting! Henry’s still missing but that military grade surveillance system really paid off! So listen, don’t get in my way while I try and corner him, please. It’s not you, it’s me and I just don’t feel like you and I are on the same page about this so I’m going to do the right thing and give us some space so I can go get him. We’ll work out the kinks of the situation later,” Bendy purred.

Bumblebee shook his head in a somewhat confused expression, “Bendy, we haven’t talked much at all about this and gave our decision, and you’re already going for Joey?”

“Bendy, I am Optimus Prime of Cybertron and I advise you not to pursue this human without addressing me first. What you are doing is wrong even if he caused your pain. Vengeance does not solve everything. I urge you to reconsider or I will have no choice but to engage you,” the semi-truck declared.

The ink demon’s grin faltered again, “That’s not your call to make, Optimus. Prime? Mr. Prime? No, that sounds like a stripper name, never mind. Some men are just born evil and Joey is one of them. Are you really that bold as to defend one sinful human when you could be protecting a million others or so right now?”

“The lesser of the two evils between you will be determined on what you decide to do at this point forward, Bendy. Do not become the enemy to humanity as so many before you have done or face the consequences,” the Prime scowled.

Giving a crude purse of the lips and a raised brow, his attention turned back to Bumblebee whom he happily smiled at. “So Bumblebee, it seems Buy N’ Large over here isn’t getting the whole revenge concept so do you mind filling him in because I have more important matters to attend to.”

“Where will you go?” Bumblebee secretly bribed.

“Well, South Chicago is where Joey is currently so I really-oh that’s not fair. You got me to spill the beans. Ha ha…you’re a chip off the old sexy Uncle Sam robot beside you. I can tell you are like a son to him and boy, that’s a bit of an annoyance.” Bendy cleared his throat, “Chow, Bee. Remember what I said earlier at my studio. Don’t try and be a hero.”

The call was cancelled as Optimus immediately turned to Ratchet. “Prepare the ground bridge. We must stop Bendy from obtaining Joey Drew.”

“Optimus, wait!” Bee suddenly yapped. The Prime turned to him with his battle mask closed and ready. “I don’t know what Bendy’s capable of doing but facing him head on is going to be risky. I think we maybe should let him get Joey. Henry no because he doesn’t plan on killing Henry, only keeping him close but Joey’s the main problem here. After all the human villains we’ve had, shouldn’t we let one finally get the judgement they deserve even if we don’t agree about it?”

His leader breathed heavily, “Bumblebee, this is a matter of life and death. Nobody deserves to die until it is determined by fair trial if the crimes they have committed are punishable by death. Joey will be brought in and sentenced, I assure you but we cannot allow Bendy to get to him first. Understand?”

Flare-Up brushed his helm in comfort as Bumblebee sighed, “Yes sir.”

“Autobots, roll out!”  
\------------------------------

“Henry has been found, my Lord. Should we pursue him too?”

Bendy shook his head, “Joey dies, and then we go after Henry.”

The Sheep and Ally frowned slightly before the doll-like toon spoke, “Bendy?”

“Yes, Tootsie?”

She glanced sideways, “Do you think Bumblebee was right when he said Henry would come back to us after a while as long as we don’t provoke him?”

The ink demon gave a sad smile, “Henry definitely hasn’t forgotten us, I believe that much but I don’t think he’s going to come back exactly in that way. We’ve been without him for years now. It’s time we make things right and bring everyone back to the studio for a reunion. Everybody.”

“Bendy?”

“Tootsie?”

“Do you think he loved us at one point?” Ally asked softly.

Allison and Tom paused their card game while Sammy lowered his head a little as if he didn’t know how to respond to that. Technically, no one knew what Henry had thought of each of them. He certainly didn’t love the former humans that much but the toons? He did create them and built a studio with Joey to create the dream that had to be founded on the love of the prospect so…

A low whisper emitted from the devil, “I don’t know.”  
\------------------------------

The less skyscraper-filled portion of Chicago was harder to navigate without drawing attention. Some mechs wandered the sidewalks with human companions staring a bit aggressively at the city style cars the Autobots had compared to their lower-rated vehicles. 

“Where exactly is he?” Rodimus spoke after seconds of pure silence Bumblebee actually enjoyed.

Arcee dimmed her headlights as if to signify an eye roll, “If we knew, we wouldn’t be wandering aimlessly throughout these streets now would we?”

A car was flipped in the distance as a snake-like body rose and sunk below the line of houses like a sea serpent diving in the waves. 

Flare-Up gawked, “What was that, Bee?”

“You’re worst nightmare. Whatever you do, try not to get eaten if Casey comes after you!” Bumblebee ordered.

Several of the vehicles moaned in disarray except Optimus, Arcee, and Bulkhead. Roaring forward, they all zigzagged through the streets to get as close as possible to Casey to see if what he was attacking was Joey or Joey’s car or Joey’s house. It probably was something of Joey’s. They rounded the street corner where Casey last was and there he sat coiled around a currently beaten down house, peered into the holes in the roof while his tail blocked the doors and windows to prevent anybody from escaping.

“Casey!” Bumblebee shouted, drawing the immediate attention of the train. “Leave him alone! He will be tried fair and sentenced as punishment for what he’s done but we can’t let you kill him!”

“Oh no worries, Casey won’t.” All eyes turned to Bendy who was not there a moment before. He had an older man gripped by his gloved hand with a calm smile. “I already have Joey. Casey’s just destroying everything he owns, ain’t that right Casey?”

A couch, a bed, and the remnants of a fridge were all stuffed in the train’s mouth when Bendy said his name. He paused again with a confused grunt and peered from his master to the Autobots , slowly starting to return chewing despite the awkwardness.

Optimus walked in front of Bee and narrowed his optics, “Give us Joey Drew and he will face proper justice.”

Several clicks of the tongue reverberated, “No can do, Muscles, I have to set some priorities straight and today, Joey will become one of us. I’ll save you the surprise later of what he’ll be and trust me, Bumblebee, you’re going to love this. It’s a very cruel irony and it’ll be so fitting of an end that even you’ll appreciate it. Maybe visit me again in the studio some day?”

The Prime charged his blaster and aimed it at the demon. “You have one last chance or else I will have to kill you instead.”

“Come on, bring it!” Gestured Bendy, his tail swinging tauntingly as Joey looked fearfully at the Autobot. In an instant, the blast of Optimus’ gun shattered the monster and ink flew almost everywhere which covered Joey almost completely. 

Casey whimpered a little at the sight, his optics positioning droopily to express his sadness. As Joey wiped some of the ink off, he smiled, “Thank you! I know I’ve done a lot of wrong but I would rather sit in jail than be the guinea pig of that creature.”

Bumblebee walked up unamused and snarled, “Your actions led to the deaths of your employees and you’re just accepting it like that? You’re the monster here, not Bendy. At least he tried to fix the mistakes you created while you ran away from them like a coward!”

Joey barked back, “I never intended the Machine to go farther than its original purpose. I just wanted to test something, to see if it was possible to manufacture a toon model but things got out of hand when I grew jealous of Disney’s success with his Mickey Mouse cartoons. I wanted to one up him but I didn’t know how so I sacrificed an employee to see if it was possible to transfer the soul into a cartoon body. The Machine already was capable of creating toons before it got that pentagram on it, one that I didn’t put on mind you, but I wanted to stretch it to its full capacity.”

“You certainly got your wish then, huh? I don’t believe you when you say you only wanted to test a theory because ALL your employees died and it was you who put the Allspark fragment onto the Machine. You awoke it again! That tells me you weren’t stopping at one and you wanted their curse to continue. You’re nothing but a psychopath! At least Disney didn’t kill his employees on purpose, some died by malfunctions in his theme park ride. What the hell could possibly be your excuse now?” He snapped.

The man grimaced but he creepily began to smirk, “Maybe I just wanted to see if toons were better than people. Before Henry stopped me, I had damaged several plates in my spine leaving me wheelchair bound and I almost was able to turn myself into a toon too for the purpose of saving me from my disability. I didn’t care about Bendy or the toons like the others, only Henry wanted the toons to succeed but not us as a team and you’re just as big as a fool as he was. I should have been successful, I should have been the top dog but Bendy outshined me.”

Bumblebee uttered, “All that for fame and fortune. Henry didn’t give them up to you because he didn’t love them, he gave them to you because he thought you would make them rise above the animation world but you broke his trust and dragged his entire franchise down out of spite. The pain was too much so he never came back to face you until thirty years later. He’s not the reason the toons think he abandoned them, you are!”

Casey stared bewildered at Bee but looked between the man who ruined his family to the mech who was actually defending them and Henry, his true Creator. He suddenly growled but didn’t move towards Joey when he noticed the movement of ink behind him. 

Joey was oblivious as Bumblebee scolded him until Bendy reformed fast and snatched him, his grin no longer present. His anger wasn’t directed at the Autobots though, it was all on Joey now. “You’ve done very terrible things Joey but dragging your own best friend down is the absolute worst. _Friends don’t abandon friends_.”

Peering towards Bee briefly, Bendy still kept a solid frown on his face and he jumped down into a developed ink puddle with Joey in tow. The man’s screams were barely audible before he was sucked in with a splotching noise then there was complete silence.

Bumblebee shot a frightened look at Casey who somewhat shrank under his gaze, curling slightly tighter around the unstable house. Giving a low whine, he slowly sank into the ground and his puddle of ink evaporated. Arrays of creaks were left. The house suddenly toppled with no support which earned a slight grimace from Blurr and Optimus.

Arcee groaned, “How exactly are we going to get Joey back?”

“I don’t know but I’m going back to the studio,” Bee replied. “Bendy seems to like me so he’ll be most responsive if I go alone this time.”

Optimus didn’t look pleased, “Bumblebee, this is a matter of life and death. We cannot allow you to risk yourself to an attack on Bendy’s part.”

“He won’t attack me, I know it but I can’t say the same for you.”

Flare-Up hugged him which made him jump a little from the tension, “Just be careful, okay?”

Bee smirked, “Of course, it’s me!”

She softly punched his arm, “That’s what I’m afraid of.”  
\--------------------------------

As Bumblebee entered the train track tunnel to Bendy’s studio, he noticed a few items had been changed around. The plush dolls were arranged differently and sat rather unorthodox on the shelves while the cutouts that didn’t have a pentagram behind them formerly were now riddled on the wall. The Machine’s powers must have expanded since last time. Joey was probably dead.

The main chamber of the studio didn’t look at all different so there was that. Several toon animals now roamed free with a few horses including the foal he saw born a couple days before all watched the Projectionist play a hit-the-pin game with a ball. They whinnied happily when he managed to knock down all three pins in one shot. Throwing the ball up to catch it, Norman made a victory pose and did a motion with his hands as if to boast to the game itself he was superior.

A voice began to announce notices over the loud speaker throughout the studio which was quickly identified as Sammy by Bee. As he travelled past the toons who didn’t even wink an eye at him, he couldn’t help but listen to Sammy on occasion as he tried to find Bendy.

“Today, we have a new development in Bendyland which will now allow bigger characters to ride the Merry-Go-Round. Yes, this includes you, Casey.”

Bendy was not in his personal safe haven with his head over the doorframe or in Alice’s. Bumblebee then tried Boris’ main chamber but he wasn’t there either.

“The ground bridge provided by our resident hackers, the Sheep, is not a toy. Please refrain from using it for fun trips or just to be dicks. We don’t have a lot of Energon or other resources to fuel it at this time so we need to be sparing with what little there is. Any misuse will result in discontinuation until the Machine decides to reanimate you.”

How did they get the schematics for a ground bridge? Bumblebee shook his head stubbornly at the thought of them stealing such sensitive technology. Bendy certainly made up for lost time by quickly adapting to the present which included the still-confidential Cybertronian technology. As he checked the hall of the Machine, he growled when Bendy still was missing. He could hear the Machine’s gears slowing slightly in confusion as he up and left it without a word, turning away just as quickly as he came in.

“We also have a new lunch menu which can found at ‘your momma’s ass’…who wrote this?”

Out of the frustration, Bumblebee managed to crack a smile at that. Then he heard a sudden breeze of laughter behind him that sounded an awful lot like…

“That never gets old, making him say stupid crap like that without him realizing it,” Bendy coughed, brushing the underside of his eyes as if to wipe away a tear from laughing too hard. “Thank you, Boris, for that wonderful joke. I can’t believe he didn’t read that over before he said it.”

The wolf gave a very cartoonish snicker as he high-fived his best friend before turning to walk back to his personal chamber. Bendy clapped a bit humorously before acknowledging Bumblebee with a sweet smile. “Well if it ain’t the future Autobot Leader himself? How’s life among your teammates?”

Bee narrowed his optics, “First off, how do you know Optimus gave me that talk? Secondly, I came to ask about Joey. What did you do to him?”

The devil gave a rather unsavory expression but still held humor in it. “Man, you really don’t like to chit chat much, do you? Always cutting to the point which is never much fun. If you must know, an unfortunate side effect of Allspark infused technology is it spoils a lot of things it catches randomly depending where it’s tuned to. It ruined the ending of _Coco_ for me when it tuned to a bunch of teens who were talking about how amazing it was when it was in theaters. Very sad day.”

“I feel you, Bulkhead spoiled the _The Force Awakens_ for me and I was salty for five months after that.”

Clasping his gloved hands over his mouth, Bendy stared in shock. “No! He did not ruin a Star Wars movie! Really?”

“Uh huh, talk about sad. That was the movie everyone was dying to see and before I could, Bulkhead went with Miko and well, not fun either. Anyways, is Joey still-?”

“Alive?” Bendy made a vague gesture, “Well, yes and no. He’s not human alive but he’s still technically up and running. Maybe running isn’t the proper term because I accidentally broke his leg before he converted.”

Bumblebee grimaced, “Please don’t tell me you did what he did to you!”

“Revenge is a dish best served cold, my friend, and this inky prison for many is not the warmest place on the planet, I assure you,” chuckled Bendy. “But the good news is he’s adapted pretty fast so he’s not necessarily in any pain anymore.”

The ink demon signaled for Bumblebee to follow him to his throne chamber where he eagerly jumped onto his seat and patted his lap. Bee gave a “really?” look but said nothing as Bendy rolled his eyes and suddenly whistled.

“Joey, come out to play!”

A heart beat faintly in the distance grew louder as the wall to the right of the throne began to become murky with ink and transparent icky stuffs. The blob of ink shifted before a mass limped through and Bumblebee stared in horror.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess what happened to Joey. Karma, karma, karma, karma chameleon...no more. The next chapter will really emphasize how dangerous Bendy is as a character and at first it may not seem like it maybe through the first reading but it does put to light a lot of deadliness he actually has.


	5. Time to Get Dangerous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also just a brief talk about Chapter 5. Considering what it implies, my theory of course isn't true because the Ink Machine isn't versed at all nor does the meaning of the pentagram ring true or even how Tom and Allison play a slightly bigger role. The ending was kind of a downer but I found the interaction with Joey very unusual and if that is true, then Joey might be the only survivor of the studio incident and Henry is just as forsaken as the others. However, it can be confirmed Joey isn't Bendy which I did predict because Bendy was hinted at being created first before any other toon so Joey wouldn't have been able to sacrifice the others to their doom as an ink creature.
> 
> So not to spoil anything more as I tried to put it as vague as possible, the Transformers Nightmare Universe (which means it's "Hell on Earth" and not a dark dream) plays things differently in its paranormal and monstrous take of new villains which I'll explore in other fics. Integrating these monsters like Bendy into the Universe has to unfortunately change this new ending but it influences what I think he would be more akin to as a cartoon character brought to life. As I stated at the end of the previous chapter, Bendy's darker side does become apparent from here on out and elements from his cruel nature is indeed reflected from the game. In future chapters, you will see a bit more of the game's aspects returned but alternated a bit to match what he is among the Transformers. Kudos to anyone who can spot the references.

The black limping mass of ink moaned as its heart beat loudly. A human-sized deformed lanky, skeletal Bendy with an abnormally large head but no eyes and a twisted foot moved towards them. Runny ink stained the white parts of the form including the damaged bow tie and the ripped glove, the other hand had none. It groaned as it peered up at Bumblebee with harsh breathing.

Bendy himself grinned proud and bit his lip waiting for a response for Bee, glancing back and forth from the two several times. He finally chuckled, “Joey, old friend, you remember Bumblebee from yesterday, right? He’s come to check on you, isn’t that sweet?”

“T-That’s Joey!?” The yellow mech stuttered in horror.

“Yep, what’s ironic is that’s what I used to look like when I awoke when Henry turned on the Machine,” he gestured. “But now I’m once again the handsome one and Joey’s the monster as it should be.”

Joey gave a sad whine but since it sounded nothing like a human, Bumblebee had no idea how to interpret it. Bendy on the other hand simply raised a brow at the former man and the abomination looked down in shame.

Bee gulped, “That’s not what you do to people, Bendy, even if you hate them.”

The demon raised his arms in defense with a genuine neutral frown, “Hey, I never said I was going to do this to any other person. I only allowed the employees of the studio to suffer my curse because they helped create me and my prison sans Henry like I said. Joey was the last one I desired to make him join our ever so happy family as an ink monster. If anyone else screws me, I’ll honestly just kill them or punish them traditionally on my terms. I wouldn’t dare use my curse as a proper punishment for anyone else. That’s just cruel, even by my standards.”

“You are very psychopathic, you know that?”

Tapping his claws together, Bendy corrected him, “Actually the proper word is sociopath because I do have emotional conflicts when I do the things I do. Get your terminology right before you accuse me of something I am not, I take offense to that...nah, not really. I’ve lost the fucks I give somewhere in this vast studio. Perhaps one day you’ll help me find them?”

A small smile played on Bumblebee’s features, “You’re insane.”

“Of course I am, half the things I do wouldn’t have worked if I wasn’t. As a character once said in a Johnny Depp movie I can’t place off the top of my head at the moment, the best people are often as mad as insanity itself,” he replied.

The mech laughed, “I don’t think that’s how the quote goes but nice try.”

“Joey,” Bendy grinned like a Cheshire cat. The humanoid monstrosity that was the former owner gave a low moan in response. “Take Allison and Tom to the lower mines and see if you can retrieve some more Blood Rose _Devilanthium_. We need to make up finances we’ve lost from your brashness and put us on the map again.”

The twisted form of Joey bowed and unevenly walked back into the wall he emerged from, the stain disappearing quickly as the sound of the eerie heart beat faded to silence.

“Devilanthium?” The Camaro questioned in disbelief. 

“That’s what I’ve come to name it! Like it? Funny story, turns out my studio’s caverns hold a new metal which I have browsed countless data to find if it has any match discovered. Apparently not and I made an anonymous confirmation that this was a new element so I’ve gotten in touch with the military to sell it to them since they want a new materials for their weapons, armor, etc. I’m also considering selling to the Black Market dwellers as this metal is top grade so a very high price is for a single piece. Imagine that!”

Bumblebee shook his head, “I would question that but at this point, I believe I know you well enough that the answer’s not going to be a good one. It does explain why Lennox has been talking about a change in materials for armored vehicles as well as the military suits. The rumor was it was stronger than Cybertronian alloy supposedly.”

“Didn’t get around to testing that,” Bendy smirked. 

The matter suddenly got serious as Bee gave the demon a harsh glare. “About Henry, you got Joey but Henry isn’t a fair prisoner. I apologize but this time we’ve placed a massive search effort for him and we intend on keeping him near someone trusted enough to move him if you decide to go after him. We can’t let you take him, not like Joey.”

A growl and an expression of belittlement was all he got. Bendy raised his arms before slapping them back down against his sides, “No offense, Bumblebee, but Henry isn’t your problem. Wha-what are you going to do, huh? I said I wasn’t going to do anything to him, just keep him close. What part of that did you not get?”

Briefly pausing, Bendy rubbed his temples before placing his hands to cover his mouth, and then he crossed his arms with a disbelieving frown. His frown turned to one of consideration before he turned his head to Bee with a more neutral face. “How about a deal?”

“A deal? About Henry, I assume?” Bumblebee scowled.

“If you can keep Henry out of my line of sight despite I may know where he is, I will not pursue him after one hour. If I do find him though and see him, you will not interfere with our confrontation. If he escapes me by himself, you will be free to move him again and this game will continue. Sound fair enough?”

There was something Bendy wasn’t acknowledging in the deal but he couldn’t but a digit on it. The pressure of the stare down Bendy was giving wasn’t helping but since there seemed to be no other available options he could bring the demon to consider without resistance, he nodded, “Deal.”

“Shake on it.”

Bee narrowed his optics, “Wha-?”

“To trust your word on this, I need a bit more than a nod to confirm how serious you are,” enlightened Bendy.

Holding out his clawed glove, he made no extra movements as Bumblebee’s own servo was twitching as if uncertain to make the truce. Grimacing before giving up, metal to solidified ink clapped together in a tight grip. A wave of nausea seemed to hit Bee for a moment before it disappeared. Bendy merely made a facial gesture towards the reaction but didn’t press anything. One final shake and they both let go.

The ink demon smiled, “Thank you! Such a pleasure to make a deal with you! And I trust you will keep it so there are no worries over that. Now anything else you need today?”

“No, I’m good,” Bumblebee smiled. 

He walked onto one of several balconies overlooking the studio’s main vast area and noticed the Sheep behind the Heavenly Toys waterfall checking out some weapons within a cache he could tell was Bellwether’s. Sammy jumped back a bit as Ally chased an ink mutt down the stairs of the little watch point shack of surveillance while Norman repaired a broken camera hooked into the mainframe for the largest TV screen within the room that glitched slightly as its footage tried to roll.

Casey was nowhere in sight so he was probably outside or in another room hopefully not eating anything or anyone. Allison and Alice, the latter now appeared human size as well which Bee assumed she had the power to do so, were arguing over a session of Super Smash Bros Ultimate, deciding whether Bowser or King K. Rool were the better kings of the Nintendo franchise as they played both characters. Boris who also had shifted into a human size was careful strategizing a chess game against Tom. When he pointed suddenly behind the former human, the toon switched his side with Tom’s as he was losing and smiled as the confusion became apparent. Tom growled while Boris heckled lowly before he leapt onto the toon, strangling him and whacking his head against the floor at the same time.

“Not your typical definition of a family, huh?” 

Bee barely glanced to his side as Bendy rested both arms on the railing of the balcony casually. An explosion where the Sheep were didn’t faze the others below except Ally who gasped but it surprised him a little while the ink demon only raised a brow. Beau stumbled charred on her front with a single flame burning on one of her curls of ink fur and swirling eyes as the other two Sheep laughed their asses off, growing in amusement when she fell flat on her face seemingly unconscious for the moment.

“No,” the mech replied. “But I can’t judge you because our ragtime Autobot family of misfits isn’t exactly the expectations of the norm either.”

“Alice in Wonderland!”

“Wha-?” He questioned, the outburst forcing him off guard.

Bendy smiled sheepishly and snapped his fingers, “I just remembered the Johnny Depp movie the madness quote was from that I butchered. I don’t why I couldn’t remember. Anyway, they are quite the dysfunctional family and at most, they are the only real reason I wouldn’t want to leave this realm if this was actually a choice.”

Bumblebee gulped, “You tried at one point to commit suicide, didn’t you?”

“Life is cruel, didn’t take sixty years to figure that out. It doesn’t feel right to be here but like I said, they’re worth it. Many people think immortality is the best power but in reality, all you really get is a bunch of dead bodies and a great view of the world as you get to watch it destroy itself. It’s not a very fun predicament even for a demon. But you sometimes have to wonder if there is a god or gods, would they really wish to stay in a place with this much chaos and corruption without trying to leave by any means necessary? Sometimes fear of what you’ve done can drive anyone insane and longing for death, it has me.”

“You didn’t create the Machine though…”

Bendy laughed mockingly and straightened up, “No, but I didn’t stop it when I had multiple chances and back then, I pulled its lever more times than you could imagine before it grew sentience. Most of what you see was my corruption over their minds, their wills. Physically, I am not responsible but mentally? I’ve destroyed more willpower than the Machine has created life. You don’t have to create something to be its worst enemy.”

Bumblebee moved away from the railing and turned to Bendy with a soft frown, “What are you to them?”

The question made the ink demon frown and snarl, and then he sadly began to turn away. Bee didn’t dare pursue him but he heard Bendy remark unexpectedly.

“A god.”  
\------------------------------

Optimus shook his head, “This is out of our hands, Bumblebee. The public must know of what has happened there. I am deeply sorry but no other options are available.”

Bee stuttered, “Y-you can’t be serious. Optimus, if this goes public, who knows what’s going to happen. I’ve already gotten through to Bendy. We’re connecting amazingly well and he likes me, plus he’s got no intentions to harm anyone else and I want it to stay like that. If we tell the world, there will be deaths on our servos. Can’t you see that?”

“The Autobots took a vote and the majority is not in your favor. I cannot undo that. If there are consequences, I will handle it. But since this relationship with Bendy seems to be taking a toll on you, I am going to deal with Bendy and the Ink Machine myself while you take some time off to get your processor a bit of relief,” the Prime huffed.

The yellow mech backtracked, “You mean, you’re demoting me?”

A sway of the shoulders of the semi made him frown, “Technically, I am only placing you on temporary leave and you will be monitoring human crimes for now on until I feel you are ready to return. Lawbreakers like Angry Archer, Slo-Mo, and Nanosec will be a good substitute for the time being from the more elaborate criminals we usually face.”

“Optimus, this isn’t fair and-”

“This is not up for debate, Bumblebee,” Prime hissed. “You may be the runner up for the Autobot Leader but until then, I remain your superior and I said you will be reassigned. Is that understood?”

The younger bot sighed. “Yes, sir.”

Unknowingly to them, audio waves of their conversation played loud inside the studio and everyone within stared with mixed expressions. But out of all of them, the most frightening was that of Bendy who stared ruggedly at the screen before a crackling frown tore across his features. A few of the toons and searchers could feel his anger while the Machine itself became quiet in anticipation of what its master planned to do.

Bendy had hacked into the mech’s audio receptor feed and had only wanted to confirm that Bumblebee was not going to go against one of his promises of revealing his studio to the mass population due to multiple suspicions from the others but this was unexpected. His eyes twitched as he listened to Optimus’ commands. So the mech wanted to separate them thinking he was “unhealthy?” Replacing him with those so-called supervillain knockoffs? 

No, he was done being ignored. For too long he had been brushed aside and that’s what cost him his fame, fortune, and his namesake. It was because of him being disregarded that made Joey go mad after focusing too much on the Machine and realizing too late that he blew their chances at ever making it in the animation business. Bumblebee was one of the few he actually felt a connection with and he wasn’t going to let some pathetic meat sacks or a glorified loyal Autobot mutt get in his way again of happiness even if he wasn’t sentient formerly. If this was the impression Optimus was going to make, then there will be war.

Bendy snarled, “That wise, stupid over exaggerated parasite! He thinks he can erase me from the picture!? He knows I need the attention so he’s just starving me because he thinks it’ll weaken me!”

Alice frowned, “First off, half of that was an oxymoron. Secondly, I don’t think he knows that, Bendy. He’s only trying to protect Bumblebee thinking you’re a bad influence…and you kind of are.”

“Bullcrap, I’m a marvelous family figure meant for all ages. Sammy! Tomorrow morning, I alone am going to Detroit and giving this holy ass exactly what he wants. If he wants Bumblebee to watch the low life criminals of humanity, then Bumblebee shall. But he never said to protect them from the likes of me. I’ll give them one hell of a surprise they won’t forget!”

Boris muttered, “Yeah, that’s family friendly alright.”

The former human bowed and whistled, the Sheep running in to follow the music director to prepare for Bendy’s plan and the repercussions that were bound to follow.

The ink demon clenched his fists, “If Optimus Prime wants me to be the bad guy in this war he’s waged, I’ll be the damn bad guy.”  
\------------------------------------

Patrolling the streets at dusk wasn’t the definition of fun and he certainly wasn’t pleased with his low regarded status as a street cop. It was painfully obvious Bendy had a connection with him and to separate them was deadly because Bendy didn’t seem to like rejection well. If he knew about the reassignment, he would think Bee had ditched him which would cause even more problems Optimus wouldn’t be able to handle as he thinks. It was all a chess game and Optimus had just pulled a check too early.

 _“So Optimus really doesn’t want you near Bendy, Bee?”_

“No, Flareup, he’s been very clear why but Bendy chose me to talk to and I’ve figured out a lot of things I had never considered about humanity much less how it’s possible for an entity to become that powerful. We may not see eye to eye but I’m the only person he’ll open up to and that’s the most important influence anyone can have on another. Optimus is just concerned he’s going to try and make me do something bad like delivering Henry to him on a silver platter which by the way, I still am not going to do.”

_“Listen, Sweetspark, it’ll only be a temporary gig and Optimus will soon find he needs you back because Bendy won’t be reasonable without you. You just have to make the best of it until then. If you need to rant or just talk to someone, you know my number of course, okay baby?”_

Bumblebee gave a weak smile even as he still felt terrible, “Thank you, Flare, that means a lot to me. See you back home in the morning. I love you.”

_“Love you too! Bye!”_

Immediately, alarms of a bank rang irritably but Bumblebee knew that meant only one thing.

“Out of my way, slowpokes!” Nanosec growled, pushing as many people as possible out of the way before zooming past Bee rushing onto the scene. 

Bee muttered angrily, “No you don’t!”

Nanosec smiled as he sliding across the asphalt, easily outrunning a cop car that tried to race beside him. When he noticed the yellow Camaro form of one of the most famous Autobots of Detroit, his grin only widened. “Well, well, if it isn’t the rough shot rookie of the roundabout. Heard you were looking for one of us supervillains, huh? Too bad but I’ve got to jet. Eat my dust, racecar reject!”

Rumbling dangerously low, Bumblebee pushed his speed to the max and tailed the human speedster with almost an unusual attitude that didn’t go unnoticed. After two minutes of chase time, even Nanosec began to stop grinning and slightly felt uncomfortable how aggressive Bee was driving.

“Easy, dragster, I was only yanking your chain! What are you going to do? Run me over? Prime wouldn’t approve of that.”

Bumblebee became way too anxious and missed Nanosec’s sudden turn into an alleyway. He still didn’t give up though. The sound of the speedster alerted him he was still inside the narrow backstreet but then unusually, everything became silent. For a few seconds, it was to be believed Nanosec had actually stopped for once. A weird set of thumps were heard but nothing concrete he could place it as.

Flying around the block to the only other end of the alley, he slid in front of the exit. What surprised him most was there was no sign of Nanosec. The human was fast with his experimental suit but you could hear him zip past and see a bit of an orange streak behind him to indicate where he was. Following him around the block, Bee heard him alright but now there really was no noise whatsoever. He didn’t hear Nanosec go back the way he came so where was he?

Transforming, Bumblebee slowly slipped into the alleyway. Only a few driveways were inside but no other roads were present. There was no way he got out. He had to be still here. Bee scoured every nook and space until he got to the middle of the alley where a dumpster lied. As he drew closer to it, something black and oozing was dripping from the side. It took a second for him to think of what it was and he abruptly lunged for it, pulling the top off.

His servos clasped over his mouth in utter horror as an orange-clad glove rose slightly from being pushed down by the lid. Ink and blood was scattered throughout the trash but the arm was the only thing not buried by it. Realizing what this meant, he hesitantly whipped his helm around at his surroundings before running from the scene of the crime, desperately trying to get ahold of Optimus.

A cry for help not too far away made him freeze and try to pinpoint the location of it. Another scream seemed to almost sound like Slo-Mo because he recognized the stereotypical 30’s fast-talk as the woman shouted at her attacker. No! He wouldn’t let Bendy kill the villains. It wasn’t right. Damn you, Optimus!

Slo-Mo still cried out frantically while he raced to her and finally as Bumblebee was able to get sight of her, he stopped as he noticed the black pool of ink surrounding her. Strings of it pulled down her arms while latching onto her legs to keep her from running away. She seemed to be sinking much to both of their dismay. 

He was about to try and pull her out when he was suddenly blasted up and thrown into the nearest building. His entire body hissed painfully but he refused to just lie in the rubble. Shaken, he landed on his hands and crawled out just in time to see Bendy’s figure holding some type of mallet disappear into the shadows and Slo-Mo was trying to claw her way out with no success. He yelled loudly as she was yanked into the pool with a startled gasp. Then nothing. The pool of ink evaporated before his optics and he slammed his fist down in failure, tears threatening to fall.

 _“Bumblebee? Do you read me?”_ Optimus’ voice rang through his line.

Sobbing, he murmured, “They’re dead! I couldn’t save them! They’re dead!”

_“What happened? Who is dead?”_

“Bendy killed them because of you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now he's really starting to kill people and I figured he would be the reason the infamous Detroit supervillains from Transformers Animated are no longer within the Nightmare Universe, being replaced by a new Rogues Gallery that will be introduced over time. Xibalba was my original plan for killing them off but I decided to use it as an establishing moment for Bendy and Bumblebee.


	6. Death and the Dissembler

“La-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-ah.”

A slew of eerie whistling followed, echoing softly in the moderately crowded lobby of the MGM Grand Detroit. The manager had just traded out with one of his fellow employees to fix a few minor cracks in the wall that were made by an angry customer who came bargaining in searching for someone and threw a piece of furniture at it. He was asked to fix it because he knew a lot about construction interior design as well as very handy with a paint brush. It didn’t bother him much. 

At the moment though, he was on break and held his notepad close to him as he doodled on it. Brushing away a few strands of black and grey hair loose from his slicked design, he created soft lines that shaped into a rounded face and he sketched the oval body carefully. Muttering to himself, he glanced almost paranoid at his surroundings every now and then. He added several other drawings to it on the side until a small voice made him freeze.

“Excuse me, sir?” An older lady spoke.

He knew better than to shy a customer away because he wasn’t working so he turned to her with a smile. “How may I help you this evening?”

She sighed sweetly, “I think I know that tune you were vocalizing. My mother had these old clips of a cartoon set and that was the opening tune to it. She used to sing or whistle it for me and I would sing and whistle along. This was back when I was six years old. I’m ninety-eight now as you can tell.”

The attendant gave a weak laugh. “Yeah, well I’ve known this song for…quite some time. It’s an older memory too though it’s more personal.”

_“Manager to the Front Desk, please. Manager to the Front Desk.”_

“I’ve got to run over to the Desk. Is there anything else I can help you with today?”

The old woman patted his arm, “No, son, it was just nice to know someone remembers the forgotten classics.”

As they parted ways, the lady passed his notebook and glanced at it. She recognized the main character drawn and giggled but her smile faded little by little as she saw the rest of them. Scribblings that looked like the main but only darker, sinister were sketched madly on the sides with other twisted characters it seemed. Above the main drawing, one sentence remained. _It’s Time To Believe._  
\------------------------------------------

Master Disaster had heard of their deaths through the grapevine and he was out. He wasn’t going to be killed like this. After all, he only pirated a television channel to host his illegal street racing. That wasn’t a “supervillain” crime…but maybe hijacking Transformers with his Allspark-powered tracker was. Pressing down the gas petal, his red and black car zipped on the I-80 from Toledo.

“Say goodbye to Detroit and say hello to San Francisco!”

A black dot suddenly appeared on the road in the distance before it bubbled and grew. Master Disaster narrowed his eyes at it when he got close but then a large mass emerged and all he saw were teeth opening before he sped right into it. A quick burst of fire and smoke radiated from various areas before the ink monster burped out chunks as well as a tire and sank back into his hole.  
\--------------------------------

He screamed as his bot was ripped apart. Barely, Masterson escaped through the emergency exit and darted towards the abandoned ship he used for storing the mechanical components for the Headmaster units. Climbing up to the captain’s deck, he immediately turned on the engine and took off. When the ship was fully detached from the docks, he looked back to see the speck of black ink still tearing away at the unit.

He gave a sigh of relief and clutched the nearest wheel of the ship’s steering. One minute he was minding his own business and the next some black figure was being an utter troll, trashing his ride like a total noob. 

“You aren’t my Henry.”

Masterson whipped around and scanned the entire deck. Nobody should be on this ship with him. Nothing but two rows of consoles were visible but then he heard strained breathing. From behind the desks, several black creatures spawned and crawled towards him. They groaned and whispered, dragging only half their body as the other was missing.

“S-stay back! Get a-away from me!” He yelled.

He hit one of them in the head with the nearest blunt object he could reach but that only enraged it. Another ink monster swiped at him, almost splitting his leg open. Masterson leapt onto the control panel and continued to bat away at the moaning entities until a human-sized figure walked among the shadows up to him.

With a signature Cheshire grin, Bendy appeared with his tail swinging anxiously. His personal mallet at hand, he tapped it against his palm in a threatening manner which made the human press as close to the windshield as possible. The searchers parted ways to let their master through, giving rather laughable whimpers.

“I’m afraid, ‘Henry’, that you’re in my way because I don’t like to share,” the ink demon growled.

Masterson put his hands up in defense, “I-I swear I didn’t steal anything of yours.”

“Oh no, it’s more like you have the attentions of someone else and that makes you a threat to me. Don’t take this personally but I hate you.”

Smirking, Bendy reeled back with his mallet and Masterson cried out as it was projected at him. Blood spattered the glass like rain.  
\--------------------------------

Reports of various deaths across the city, all related to the supervillains, flooded every news channel in Michigan. Nanosec’s body was recovered…in pieces and the ink was being tested in Sumdac Lab. That alone would press an investigation that even he didn’t know whether he could keep Bendy’s secret. Slo-Mo was found nearly skeletal like something or someone sucked every bit of life from her and dumped her body among the park statue. 

Meltdown was a puddle of cybernetic acid, showing the equivalent of brain activity which was dangerously low but he never reconstructed himself which if Slo-Mo was anything to go by, chances were that Meltdown had no soul. He was just a living husk with practically zero ability to comprehend what he was or how to use his powers. Angry Archer was strewn from the Tower entrance with his guts emptied like a fish. Porter C. Powell’s face was bashed in so bad, they had to call forensics to confirm it was him.

Only one supervillain remained because she looked like a little girl. Professor Princess was crying on top of the police hood as she was handed a cup of cocoa and who could blame her? The problem was…she wasn’t a little girl. Penny was in fact an adult born with the rare condition of advanced systemic hypoplasia which got renamed the “Baby Doll Syndrome” at one point by Batman fanatics. Bendy probably spared her because he hated hurting children but if he figured out otherwise, there was no telling how he would react.

Optimus bowed his helm in sadness as cameras flashed on the crime scene of Silas who was more than dead as far as they could tell. He slowly turned to Bumblebee who in return stared aggressively back. “I did not intend for this to happen. I…I thought that you needed time away but I had not considered Bendy’s reaction to it.”

“Yeah well, look what happened! I warned you! You’ve killed more people than you protect and it’s because of these types of situations where you don’t consider every possible outcome!” Bumblebee shouted, drawing the reporters’ interest at them.

“Bumblebee-”

He snarled, “Don’t ‘Bumblebee’ me! Sometimes doing the right thing for the right reasons need to be done doing it in the wrong way! You may have thought my obsession was bad but this-this is ten times worse, don’t you think?”

The Prime was about to open his mouth when several reporters approached him.

“Optimus Prime, do you know who’s behind these vicious attacks?”

“Is it true ink was the common liquid found throughout these sites?”

“Is the assailant trying to replace the human supervillains with themselves? Will they go after any Transformer villains next?”

The Autobot Leader winced as the cameras stayed focused on him. With a solemn gulp, he nodded, “Ink was indeed found among each scene and the act of violence against these humans was partially my fault for taking away a…crucial element in the attacker’s stability I had not considered. He does not want to be associated with our kind unless provoked into doing so.”

“He? Can you be more specific?”

Bumblebee’s face dropped as Optimus continued, “His name is Bendy, a living cartoon character who had influence from the Allspark itself. Years ago, a man by Joey Drew created an ink machine that was able to create life itself and thus created Bendy. Almost thirty years ago, a co-creator of Bendy was able to stop him from leaving the studio but apparently, this did not stop Bendy completely. He is now awake and active.”

As the reporters jotted down every word of the Prime, Bumblebee rubbed his optics. Bendy wasn’t going to get any happier anytime soon. So much for the big secret.  
\--------------------------------

The next day, everything at the studio was peaceful and most people were dozing off from the boredom. As Sammy flipped through the channels with a human-sized Alice resting the back of her head on his lap asleep, he paused briefly on the classical movie Lilo & Stitch where the montage of Stitch being a jerk happened to be playing. He gave a brief chuckle as Stitch sighed in defeat after activating the fake space rocket ride while Jumba and Pleakley mocked him.

Suddenly, Norman popped up over the couch and grabbed the remote from his hands, frantically typing channel numbers. The act made the masked man jump slightly which awoke Susie who muttered a few curses and rubbed her head tiredly. She shifted onto her side with a hiss. “What the hell, Norman!?”

The Projectionist ignored the pillow thrown at him and pointed wordlessly at the screen as it flipped to the channel he typed. WXYZ-TV tuned in and both Sammy and Susie’s facial reaction plummeted as Norman’s lens dilated. The two didn’t even acknowledge Norman hopping over the couch to sit down with his hands folded to rest on his legs.

“Autobot Leader, Optimus Prime, has just given reporters a broad statement indicating the attack of several supervillains was led by a so-called ‘Bendy’,” the newswoman elegantly said. The news switched to a narrative as aftermath videos, camera feeds, and pictures regarding the old studio as well as Joey and Henry were placed accordingly. 

“The supposed suspect known as _Bendy the Dancing Devil_ or _Dancing Demon_ was an early 1930’s cartoon character who never made it past the Great Depression in animation because of Joey Drew, the man behind the character.”

Susie yelled at the voice, “It wasn’t Joey, you idiot! It was Henry! Henry!”

“It was said Joey went mad and created a machine capable of reanimating cartoons into real life. This obsession ended up shutting down his company after cartoon segments failed to be submitted on time and various employees began to go missing resulting in an investigation and a class-action lawsuit of misuse of community financing. This lawsuit made Joey bankrupt, leaving his studio in the outskirts of Chicago in shambles.”

A picture of the Google Earth version of their studio made each of their eyes widen beyond their control.

“As the mystery of the employees disappearing remains, traces of ink particles have been found at the scene leaving some to believe Joey may have done the impossible after all with the help of the power of the Allspark. A piece of the Allspark was stolen almost five weeks ago and according to Optimus Prime, this was connected to a multitude of uprisings among the studio populace that could be the missing employees unaccounted for.”

Sammy’s profile picture, Susie’s yearbook photo, and Norman’s old wedding photo enhanced to only show him were all there among Henry and Joey’s own as well as a few others like Tom and Allison. Bertrum was even shown but he wasn’t in commission. The Machine had yet to bring him back. The Projectionist remembered the wedding photo was taken three years before he joined Joey’s crew. He missed his wife but she wasn’t alive anymore and they never had any kids.

“Bendy is said to be highly dangerous if provoked and due to the influence of the Allspark, he appears like one of the Transformers compared to his original design. Other cartoon characters have also been brought back to life and have also been altered from their previous appearances. If anyone spots one of the cartoon characters or someone just like them, report all activity to the Detroit Police Department immediately.”

After a slideshow of the toons were shown, Sammy switched off the TV still staring with utter shock as did Alice and Norman. They each shot each other looks, mouths agape, before they all screamed in unison sans the Projectionist who only made the motion with his head. “BENDY!”  
\--------------------------------------

Flareup sighed watching Bumblebee pace uncontrollably. “What are you thinking about, Bee?”

The yellow mech paused and rubbed his temples, “At this point, I’m kind of debating how Bendy’s going to kill me. I’m waiting for him to call or Skype or something because I know damn well he’s not going to let that slide.”

The femme shook her head and stood in front of grasping his shoulders. “Look at me. Baby, all optics on me. Bendy isn’t going to go after you because you weren’t the one who revealed his secret. He’s not going to blame you, he likes you too much anyway.”

“Yeah but-”

She placed a digit over his lip plates, “Nah ah, he isn’t going to do anything. I promise.”

Bee smiled, “You always do know best.”

"Of course I do, you wouldn’t have looked my way if I didn’t.”

The shared a kiss before the screen lit up to indicate a broadcast. This wasn’t an ordinary broadcast, however, as Bumblebee noted because he peered out towards the Jumbotron nearest to him overlooking the city and it was reading the signal too. Whoever was contacting the city of Detroit had just stolen every frequency available.

“Greetings citizens of Michigan and whoever else decides to listen, I come in peace,” Bendy laughed as every screen filled with a live feed from his roller coaster lit throne. “Ah screw it, I’m not really a very peaceful individual.”

Many people stopped their daily chores and other actions to glare at the black and white character before them. “It has come to my attention that the one called Optimus Prime decided to break a promise of secrecy. I guess the cat’s out of the bag and being beaten to death at this point, I’ll come forward and say: I’m Bendy the Dancing Devil.”

“Oh no,” Bumblebee muttered.

“The first thing I need to address flat out is my residence. I don’t want anybody near my home under any circumstances unless approved by me. You may think since I’m technically not a U.S. resident by normal means, I am not allowed that much freedom but considering the last couple of people who decided to visit my home, I think I got the message to them.”

The camera was turned towards the right and screams rang out as several men and women were seen hanging by chains lifeless, one of which was indeed a reporter as the Projectionist was checking out her camcorder on the balcony right above the door they were strung up over. “Bendy” Joey was poking at the bodies, amused by how they swung. Blood was everywhere to put it lightly and Bendy turned the camera back with pure glee as if no such problem existed.

“Secondly, I wish to say something to you, my dearest Bumblebee,” he mused, shaking his head a little. “I didn’t kill them to prove a point. I killed them because I simply don’t like to play when it comes to others of interest. You’re special; I wouldn’t waste talents such as yours on feeble humans. You’re needed here to keep me in line, to help us keep our sanity…what little remains. I killed them just so you could focus your efforts a bit more on the real right and wrong of the world. Robbing places for money hardly cuts it to be a villain now and days.”

“A new era of villainy is rising, Bumblebee. I’ve just found out a few new things about what lies on this world and what is being held from it to protect humanity under the radar. I have to say, I’m bad but some of these new characters are worse. Those pesky humans were already outdated and it’s time to face the facts. From what I’ve been foretold, they wouldn’t have survived under your care anyway from what is upon you. Evil is turning, awakening and the dear Guardian who keeps it away is losing the battle. You’ll see in time and I’ll be here to greet you when you realize it.”

The screens all blacked out but after ten seconds, the regular programming kicked in and the city returned to its fast-paced theme. Bumblebee still stared at them even as they showed commercials. A new era of villainy? How worse can it possibly get? Megatron and Unicron were devastating antagonists so would something rival them? It was also apparent that Bendy didn’t have to kill those humans. They would have bowed under Bendy’s grasp regardless so he would still have no enemies. 

“Bumblebee!” Colonel Lennox called out.

The mech kneeled to meet the human and he didn’t miss the unsavory frown. “Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”

Lennox made random gestures before giving a so-so shrug, “Technically no. It’s somewhat good news. The picture of Henry got streaming and someone said they recognized him…and he’s in Detroit.”

Bee’s optics grew in surprise.

Parallel in the studio, Bendy’s surprise came just as equally as Sammy read out the location. “He works at the MGM Grand Detroit Hotel and casino apparently as a manager. How he managed to get a job this long after being sixty years old for almost four decades is beyond me which makes me think he’s been juggling around his social security number as well as other information.”

Bendy grinned, glancing from side to side for approval of his peers. To his right he looked, Casey and the Sheep giving deadly smirks. To his left, the Machine breathed happily. Then he turned his attention back to his loyal prophet, “Henry stayed close after all these years, and a manager no less? That sounds marvelous.”

“It seems as though he’s been bouncing from alias and job whenever he reaches a certain ‘age,’” Lennox spoke.

“So he really is just as cursed as the rest of them,” Bumblebee mumbled.

Sammy gestured accordingly, “It’ll only be a matter of time before Bumblebee and the military find him too. What do you wish to do, my lord?”

In unison unknowingly to both Bumblebee and Bendy, they replied, “We must act quickly! Henry’s life is in my hands.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Henry has arrived! And what happens to him? Well, his encounter will provoke a deadly misunderstanding and emphasize Bendy's conflicting emotions. It's one thing for him to attack villains out of jealousy of losing a friend, it's another when his Creator is otherwise inaccessible.


	7. Breaking the Devil Darling

It was maddening how quickly word spread of the ink demon and his crew. Since the secret was out, many idiots tried to penetrate his home in search for clues. Only one person survived out of all the offenders and reports of coffins, pentagrams, the Ink Machine, and the remaining workers of Joey Drew Studios were all revealed albeit a bit exaggerated from what he could recall. Calls from all over the world were directed at Bumblebee because of his association with Bendy and quite honestly, he was relatively sick of it.

Bendy wasn’t very happy either, having to defend his home on an almost daily basis but the kill of the hunt made it worthwhile. At one point, the devil contacted him and said that the Lost Ones and Searchers were going absolutely berserk in fear and anger. They kind of blamed him for the sudden attention and considering it was a repeating offense, Bumblebee could now see what Bendy meant when he said he hated humanity and how they acted on such discoveries.

Military personnel and Autobots geared up for it was time to retrieve Henry Stein before Bendy decided to take him. It would be a fight to keep him out of Bendy’s line of sight but it had to be done. News reporters were already trying to get to him and if they didn’t scram, Bee feared they would get a terrible wake up call.

“Alright, soldiers, we need to bring a citizen here who has literally been through Hell and back. Nobody is to regard him as anything less than a respected civilian. You can even call him a soldier for all I care but do not by any means consider him lower for what happened to him or what he supposedly helped create,” Lennox frowned.

“Grimlock has agreed to join us and we have already persuaded Blurr, Rodimus, Arcee, Bulkhead, Flareup and Optimus to help Bumblebee rescue Henry. Lieutenant Jack Darby and Sergeant Robert Epps have also appeared from our sister bases at Diego Garcia and Nevada respectively. With them to help us, we can hold out long enough to complete our mission. Are we clear?”

An array of “yes sir” emitted throughout the warehouse. Jack, now grown up, nodded in compliance. Leading the way, the Colonel boarded Optimus and Jack mounted Arcee as both revved their engines. The other soldiers ran either ran onto the Prime’s trailer or got in the military vehicles waiting. Some even entered other Autobots if there wasn’t enough room.

Bumblebee was in front of them all and suddenly spun his tires, jerking forward with the others following. The MGM Grand Detroit Hotel was only ten minutes away with minimal traffic but the police escorts helped shorten the time span as many perched in the middle of intersections ahead of time to let them through with ease. When the hotel came into view, Bumblebee could only hope it wasn’t too late.  
\------------------------------

Bendy watched the Machine create more toon animals with great speed. The process was no doubt exhausting but he knew he needed the extra paws because Bumblebee was going to defend Henry, he just knew it. In the end though, who would suffer the most losses? He was unfortunately indestructible as were the other toons. Spawn time might not be as quick for others but they would always keep coming so there wasn’t much of a chance if he had to kill the Autobots.

The Sheep loaded up with their weapons of destruction while Sammy grabbed his newly sharpened axe and his tommy gun. Casey roared, shaking his spiked rooftops that flexed impatiently. Slamming onto the ground angrily, he gave a whine as he waited for the others. It was in his nature to roam free, not sit around for others to get ready and Bendy couldn’t blame his restlessness. He too was becoming a bit unnerved.

Finally, all crewmembers going with him to retrieve Henry were locked and loaded. Even Ally…wait. As Ally began to run towards Casey gleefully holding a small knife, Bendy immediately grabbed the back of her blouse and shook his head, “No, no, Tootsie, you’re staying here.”

The doll girl gave a scowl, “Aw, this sucks!”

“I know, maybe next time,” he flakily smirked. Yeah, no, she definitely wasn’t going any time soon. Ally was still a child and the battlefield was no place for one. He didn’t want her scarred for life, if the ink monster predicament wasn’t scary enough. 

He placed her on the balcony overlooking the main chamber next to a few searchers who patted her back as she huffed, crossing her arms with a pouty face. Smiling at the cuteness, he turned to his crew as he emerged his mallet from his backside that took its shape in seconds. Swinging it, he stopped it by jamming the tip of the staff into the ground.

“Alright, boys, today we’re going to catch ourselves a Creator! Our dear Henry has been working hard and we can’t be any prouder of him but now it’s time for him to come home, and I’ll be damned if Optimus Prime is going to get in our way! I don’t care where you spawn, just make sure it’s near or inside the hotel and remember, Henry is to be brought home alive and well! As for the soldiers, they’re expendable and all the Autobots except for Bumblebee are fair game. I’ll deal with Bumblebee. Is that clear?”

Several roars and cheers indicated their understanding all too well and Bendy laughed, “What do you know? _Dreams come true!_ ”  
\--------------------------

The military vehicle behind Optimus veered to the side a bit and went faster, passing the semi-truck while the front passenger used the radio. “Colonel, we are taking position, over.”

 _“Good, but be on your guard. They can spawn at any given-”_

Casey’s massive form erupted from a sudden appearing puddle of ink, mouth opened to the maximum and the soldiers of the military transport screamed as they were most engulfed. The end of the truck was lifted with a few men alive jumping from the devoured vehicle at the last second when insect-like mandibles emerged from beneath Casey’s tongue, grasping the bumper and pulling the remaining vehicle into hungry jaws.

Vents of ink began sparking up from the ground throwing asphalt and concrete and many ink animals and Searchers alike emerged from the geysers. 

Alice Angel flew up from the ink before landing in front of Arcee who transformed and threw a punch. The toon growled and returned the favor, sending the motorcycle into a small restaurant. Jack brought out his assault rifle and began shooting her near the face and chest, earning grunts and brief cries before he switch weapons and aimed his grenade launcher at her. When she opened her mouth to bellow at him, he fired and she froze.

Swallowing the grenade, she made a face of slight discomfort before a muffled boom emitted and the bubbling expansion of her chest and waist immediately became prominent. Her expression turned fearful and the bubbles grew larger until she suddenly exploded with an inhumane whine. Ink splashed everywhere as Jack smiled and ran past her unconscious liquid state towards the hotel.

Grimlock roared as Casey reared up like a cobra ready to defend. Stomping towards the train, he barely acknowledged the rattling of Casey’s roofs as he approached. With another roar and hearing the bellow of response, both titans clashed with Casey attempting to immobilize him by curling around his form like a boa constrictor. The Dinobot king hissed and shook lose, biting the centipede-like ink monster’s stack which earned him a cry of pain before he was bucked off. In return, he let out a whimper as his neck was attacked with black sharp teeth trying to tear armor and protoform off.

Blurr and Rodimus tag teamed and taunted the Sheep’s firing line and maneuvering to where they overlapped in an attempt to confuse the Minicon-like hooligans. Blurr passed Bellwether as she growled, blowing up cars and trees trying to pinpoint the speedster. He eventually drew her attention enough to where he ran by her again and to her late comprehension, she shot Bernard square in the head trying to shoot out Blurr’s pedes. Bernard gave a terrible screech when his head exploded but his body still thought it was in the sense of living; his hoofed hands clutched angrily and waved around to keep balance despite there was a lack of head to understand the movements.

Beau managed to snipe Rodimus’ Energon pump to his left arm which made it go limp but the hot rod kicked her away before she could inflict more damage. He snarled as he watched Blurr knock Bellwether off her feet after beheading her brother. “The bitch disabled me! How am I supposed to use my bow without my main servo?”

Blurr circled around to slow to a stop next to him, “Aren’t you ambidextrous?”

“No, Hot Shot is. The confusion of my original name and his name often leads to misinterpretations like this.”

As the groaning of Searchers awakening and moving towards them caught their thoughtfulness, Blurr frowned, “Well you better learn quickly or you might not have any chance to in about fifteen seconds.”

The Projectionist punched Epps in the gut, twisting behind him to instantly pull him backwards and slam his back into the thigh of the ink monster. The man was on the ground now, coughing up some blood from the blows. When Norman attempted to grab his leg, Robert kicked off from the camera-infused man which made his opponent stumble and fall on his ass. Epps then ran full speed at the creature before socking the lens of the projector with brutal force over and over until Norman actually had trouble seeing through his only possible optic.

Beating the projector head down, Robert smiled with slight satisfaction once his carnage ended and the Projectionist’s head lingered almost lifelessly. Standing up, Epps spit beside the unconscious form and flipped him off, grabbing his gun and cocking it as several toon animals scraped their claws against the sidewalk and moved towards him with dark intent. He merely narrowed his eyes as the largest equestrian of the group rose up to try and pummel him. 

Meanwhile, Bumblebee raced by the ink monsters who didn’t seem to make as much effort in trying to stop him as they did to the others, knocking Bulkhead out of his line of movement and having Boris verse Optimus after the former sidelined the Prime. Flareup was behind him for brief while but Allison and Tom jumped onto her and slashed two of her tires, forcing her to swerve off and transform. She was an excellent fighter so he knew deep down she would be okay.

Many soldiers fired from all directions to keep the Searchers and Lost Ones at bay. Some weren’t so lucky, being torn apart or smothered to death by drowning in sentient ink that knew how to enter the human body and just wreak havoc on it.

Near the entrance to the MGM, Lennox kneed Sammy in his mask and the music director retaliated by sweeping his legs out from under him and aiming the risen axe at his head. He managed to roll to the side right before it struck down but it didn’t stop Sammy from leaning down and lifting the soldier by the throat. As he was thrown, Bumblebee sped up much to his passengers’ dismay and as Sammy had a last second realization of what Bee was going to do, he was rammed into. Ink covered the windshield and Sammy was flung somewhere on the sidewalk. 

He wasn’t dead because it took a lot to kill someone with Sammy’s predicament but he could imagine the musician wasn’t going to be very happy with Bee once he regained full consciousness. Transforming, he caught the soldiers that had hitched a ride with him and set them on the ground. Not wasting any time, he made it to the front of the building while dodging spawning Searchers. He almost reached the entrance when he suddenly heard a crashing noise of broken glass several stories above him.

A man in a vest and tie but no jacket with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and pristine black and grey ruffled short hair with clean cut stubble leapt from the building with a shotgun in hand and sure enough, Bendy in human size followed in record time but didn’t jump high enough. He fell below the human but swiped at him, narrowly missing as he kept his undivided attention on the concierge. As the two fell, Bumblebee raced to the human’s aid and saw said human twist in midair and fire upon the ink demon. The shot didn’t impale Bendy much to really do damage but it did make him close his eyes and growl briefly.

Bumblebee caught the man but right before that, Bendy had noticed him and shouted, “You son of a-!”

The toon hit the concrete and splattered, the remaining ink gurgling nastily almost like Bendy was cursing him still. He paid no mind to it as he held the human who gripped his thumb tightly, panting from the adrenaline of terror and reckless behavior. Backing away from the puddle, Bee set the man down and kneeled beside him to watch for any ink monsters, peering at him simultaneously with stunning realization. 

“You’re Henry Stein, aren’t you?”

The man had his back turned towards the Autobot as he put his firearm on a special belt around his torso. He brushed off his sleeves and fancy vest before setting his hands to his side and sighing, “There isn’t a day that goes by that I feel like I am. Karma for what I’ve done never seems to let me forget that I am Henry…”

He slowly turned to face Bumblebee with a disheartened expression, staring boldly into the optics of a being he knew could crush him at any given moment. “…I am the Creator.”

Bumblebee saw sorrow, a man scarred from a mistake. He knew the feeling but to this degree of _madness_ , even he couldn’t compete. Henry wasn’t like Joey, pretending to play innocent; Henry revived monsters and he lived with the guilt for over sixty years in which a normal human would be dead by now but the curse of the Ink Machine made his hell immortal just like its inhabitants of the studios old and new. Henry was a broken man and even Bee didn’t know if he could be redeemed all from the way the human told his story through the tired eyes.

The mech began to open his servo and speak when suddenly he clutched his chest and gave a startling cry some of his peers from afar could even hear. Crumbling on all fours, Bee crawled a few feet forward to Henry’s side before gesturing for the human to keep near him. The pain in his chest hurt more than his near-death experience at the cannon of Megatron during the Omega Lock battle aboard the warlord’s ship.

“Bee!?” Flareup called, helping Arcee deal with an oncoming angry Susie.

Just then, blackness oozed from the ground and Bendy fully formed shot up. He did a remarkable landing with his mallet stationed upright but he looked far from happy as he could possibly get. Standing up, he spotted Henry but for once didn’t devote his attention to the human much as he used to brag he would. He stared down maliciously at Bee before kicking the Camaro and crouching over the pained form, ink dripping from a vicious frown.

Bendy slammed the mallet down beside Bee’s helm who glanced at in fear before having enough strength to look to the toon. “You made a deal with me! If I spot Henry, he escapes on his own or I get him! You are not supposed to interfere! That was our agreement and you broke it! NEVER BREAK A FUCKING PROMISE OR I WILL RIP YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF YOUR DEFILED BODY!”

Bumblebee couldn’t speak as he twitched from the magic-induced spark attack he was enduring but he could give the ink demon an expression of absolute horror. From the anger, Bendy’s face line was melting, ink streaks connecting with his pie cut eyes and his fanged mouth. His bowtie was pointed more downward than Bee was used to seeing as well.

Eventually the pain subsided as Bendy snapped his fingers, indicating the deal was off. He grabbed Bee’s helm by the cheeks and scowled, “I had hoped you would have known better but I’ve been wrong before, right? Now do yourself a favor and stay out of this or the next thing I will do to you is tear your arms off and stick them through your abdomen!”

Throwing Bee’s head back down hard and making the Autobot moan weakly, he turned his attention finally back to Henry who stood beside the mech bravely, only giving him a sour glare when he smiled.

Bendy wiped the dripping ink on his face back into place and recomposed himself, “I hate having to be the bad guy but I want you to know I’m doing this out of love. I care about you, Henry, and you belong with us. What is there to be afraid of? Yes, we’re monsters but we can all suffer together as a family again.”

Searchers and toons began advancing on Henry, crawling and whining while the human barely glanced at them. Henry breathed gravely, “Who said I was afraid? I just want to go home, wake up from this nightmare. Perhaps I will see you and Boris and Alice as yourselves the way you were meant to be and I’ll be able to see Linda and the girls again.”

Bendy shook his head, “Unfortunately, old friend, the past can’t be altered. This is the harsh reality that is and we must embrace it but the best way we can is if you come home.”

An ink crocodile waddled quickly at Henry and snapped its jaws before sprinting but right as it got near his leg, Henry simply huffed. 

“Don’t you dare…”

The ink animal halted beside him before slightly backing away to give its Creator some room. The Searchers stopped as well only a few feet from him, swaying their heads a little while the other animals kept their distance and obeyed. The crocodile gave a purr of sorts when Henry knelt beside it and stroked its head. They knew better than to harm him.

“There are some perks of being your Creator, I suppose but to live for eternity trapped in the studio…as if I wasn’t insane enough? There were nights I kept having the same dream over and over where I would replay the day I awoke the Machine and go through that antagonizing maze as if it was on a loop. I made so many mental notes of the placement of everything that my voice just grew duller from lack of surprise. But whenever I entered the dream, I had to get to the end before I would awake and no alarm could save me. I guess that’s part of the horror of our curse, having to experience those days forever,” Henry snarled.

Bumblebee managed to bring himself upright and briefly glanced at Henry before peering back as the battle in the background still raged and he was helpless to aid his friends. He shook his head aggressively, “You don’t have to go back there.”

Henry gazed at him in surprise and Bendy shot him another fierce look but he continued as he sluggishly recovered from the episode. He ignored the sudden synced voices of their audience growling at him for implying such a thing.

“Bendy, he’s not yours to control. He’ll still love you because he is your true Creator but you have to let him go! By keeping him there, he’ll be miserable among you. Henry, if you say no, do you really think they are going to stop you?”

Henry trailed the gestured view of the circle of toon animals and Searchers who did nothing to step towards him. They obeyed him. The actual toons like Bendy were their own powers but these were mooks compared to them so they listened whoever ordered them and Henry was the Creator. Bendy wasn’t as powerful as he thought but when it came down to who they would obey, Henry’s word was just as considered as Bendy’s and he knew it.

“Come with me,” Bumblebee announced. “I will relocate you if you want but I will also help you in any way I can.”

Bendy roared, “Stay out of this, Bumblebee! I’m warning you-!”

“Henry?”

“HENRY!”

The human was more focused on the dark demonic-sounding tone Bendy had taken that neither of them seemed to have heard before. But Henry had no time to try and calm Bendy when he was immediately grabbed by Flareup and Bumblebee was dragged away upon retreat as several missiles flew directly at the ink demon.

Bendy gave an abnormal bellow shattered many windows of the MGM Grand, his top half of his face melting rapidly into a more demonic structure. The missiles hit him just afterwards, sending him reeling back several feet but this time he managed to hold solid form with impact marks very present which included a side of his face blown off.

As he regained his footing and the ink worked quickly to realign his features, he watched as Bumblebee and the femme that was supposed to be the girlfriend if sources proved correct run off with Henry in hand. They both transformed and aimed for the outside of the city to be bridged away from the enemies. Right as Bumblebee made his leave, Bendy shouted words undeniably angry at him that indeed caught the Camaro’s attention.

“THIS ISN’T THE END, BITCH! I’LL GET YOU BACK, YOU HEAR ME!? I’LL FUCKING KILL THE THING YOU LOVE THE MOST BEFORE THE WEEK IS OVER! I’LL MAKE YOU FUCKING SUFFER FOR WHAT YOU’VE DONE! DON’T YOU DARE SHOW YOUR FACE AT MY STUDIO AGAIN OR I’LL DESTROY YOU! HAHAHAHA, YOU’RE DEAD! YOU’RE SO FUCKING DEAD! GET THEM!”

Bendy’s scary laugh haunted the entire battlefield as if it was designed to chase them. Some Searchers tried to capture the fleeing military personnel but very few succeeded. Bumblebee was followed by his original crew except Grimlock who parted down a wider stretch of road to veer off into a more suitable section of the city that he could escape from. Alice and Boris could no longer keep up with the Autobots and made rude gestures as they became spots in the distance.

A train horn out of nowhere abruptly rumbled closer in a small amount of time that put everyone on edge. The body of Casey ripped through the asphalt surface with no trace and slid to rip roar behind them, jaws snapping with the intent to kill. Many of the soldiers screamed as they glanced in their door and rear view mirrors to see the entirety of a malevolent Casey taking up nearly all the mirror’s reflection space while gaining on them.

One brave soldier placed the barrel of a rocket launcher out the rear of the truck he was riding and fired on the train. It hit Casey’s cheek and ripped part of his details off. Getting the hint, Jack fired his Cybertronian-implemented gun back along with several other soldiers. A few took on more rockets and began shooting up the toon like crazy.

Some shots were swallowed accidentally by the train and ruptures alongside the rows of cars that were attached to him emitted smoke and sometimes even fire. The train, however, didn’t seem like it was going to stop. He only growled as other hits took out his window coverings and part of his chimney stack, deforming his face too. Finally, the bombardment became too much and the blasts that hit among his organs overcame him. With one final try at biting Rodimus, Casey blew up with ink erupting madly like a space bridge explosion miniaturized. One car burst after another in the row before all were destroyed and Casey was physical no more.

Everyone cheered at their victory and they carried on as the ground bridge awoke. They took their leave and it closed with no more enemies in pursuit. The last thing Bumblebee could see in his rear view mirror before disappearing through the rift was that of the betrayed frown of Boris who shook his head at him. Considering what he had just done, he knew it was a sign someone would pay for his second greatest mistake.

Bendy, on the other hand, clasped his mallet strenuously which almost broke the damn thing in half. Watching Casey being defeated wasn’t any pleasant but he just stood on the grounds of the damaged hotel contemplating his next move. The Sheep, Sammy, and the other former humans gathered around him with disappointment in themselves for failing. Alice and the toons didn’t look far off from disgraced either but Bendy paid them no mind.

“It seems…,” the ink demon grinded his teeth with an unusually peaceful voice, “… that I’m going to have to take this to a whole other level to get what I want. I’ve never had to cross this line among friends but this changed the rules. Bumblebee has just signed a very pitiful death warrant and I…I know who I’m going after to make him understand that I am not a fucking joke among this world. I’m as real a threat as it gets.”

Sammy held his arm like it was broken as he softly spoke, “Bumblebee was only doing what he believed to be right, my lord.”

Bendy didn’t even remove his glare at the ground, only pursed his mouth in an unfavorable expression. “Yeah? Well I’m about to do what I believe is right too…and I’m going to make it hurt. Boys, bring the cake and the wine because we’re going to have a very special guest over come tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is the Rated X chapter this has been building up to because this is where Bendy really becomes the absolute monster that gets him a spot in the Nightmare Universe. Reader discretion is advised!


	8. True Colors

Henry was among the military men and women telling his story of his survival in the studio back in both its prime before he left and its madness upon returning. Details of the descent into the dark abyss that remained of the studio and finding out what happened to his fellow employees shook many to the core that even put their efforts against the Decepticons seem like child’s play. The description of what Joey Drew had done was nothing short of scary and twisted. Bumblebee never revealed what happened to Joey to anybody except Optimus and he now thought it was kind of best as most would believe the man got what he deserved upon discovering his inky fate.

Being a cartoonist, Henry doodled in between sessions of disclosure amongst the Autobots and humans alike. Depending on what he felt in those particular moments helped define the route in which his drawings would take shape. Happiness and relief made him draw the characters and then some in their original forms, sometimes slightly modified to fit today’s cartoon standards. Anger or restlessness made him create abominable versions of them Bee recognized as what the man described when he reawakened the Ink Machine: Susie as a malformed Alice, Sammy and Norman as less than formal individuals gone insane, and even the horrific Bendy Joey now represented. However, if bored or calm, Henry sometimes drew them as what they were currently although he did pose them variously. It was a sight to behold.

The experience of the studio did leave the poor guy disoriented at the same time. If the room got too silent, he would start peering around the area frantically to make sure there were still people around as if he was expecting Bendy or the Searchers to pop out instead. He also kept his distance from the screens and from large machinery, occasionally eying it like he wished to interact with it but he feared he would trigger something else unexpected. 

Bumblebee couldn’t help but fear for the man. How he made it this far among the more advanced technology without freaking out was beyond him but now there were more ways than one Bendy could track him, leaving distrust of the technology ever so prominent. It didn’t escape his notice that Henry had markings around his wrists and neckline, an understandable feature for one in this situation. So technically, Henry didn’t last very long among the advancing generation but he couldn’t exactly leave his predicament until the Machine was destroyed. That had to be torturous to endure.

“Are you okay?” Flareup smiled, placing a servo on his shoulder.

Bee turned towards her but kept his head facing downward almost in shame. “Well I’ve just saved a man who is scarred for life and can’t die while I also just ruined every percent of progress made with Bendy, probably permanently. I don’t know if I did the right thing or not.”

The femme kissed him, “You did what you felt was right. That’s got to mean something, especially when you saved someone’s life in the process.”

“One man lived but so many died as a result and you heard what Bendy said. He’s going to after anyone he can to get to me. I may have saved Henry but at what cost is his life compared to the millions now threatened. Bendy may level this entire city as revenge for what I denied him. You have to wonder if what I thought was right was really worth it.”

Jack suddenly clasped the railing closest to Bumblebee and panted, “Bee, Professor Princess is dead!”

The two Autobots glanced at each other in shock before Bee frowned timidly, “Bendy?”

The human nodded, “Found outside her apartment with almost every bone broken in her body and her face was so destroyed, forensics actually had to send her DNA to the lab to confirm it was her just like they had to do with Powell. I guess he figured out she lied to him about being a little girl. We need a few bots to investigate.”

Flareup gripped his arm before tapping it with an idea, “Okay, you stay here with Henry and I’ll go examine it.”

“W-wait, are you sure, Flare?”

“You need to keep away from him or anything he does because he may be lingering waiting to kill you if you show up. I’ll take point with my sister and we’ll lead the crime scene. I’ll be fine but you should be more worried about yourself than me. Optimus was right, Bendy’s influence isn’t making you act healthily and you need a diversion, something that doesn’t involve any casualties. Oh and go talk to Ratchet while you’re here. I forgot the mention he may have a way of keeping Bendy from hacking your communications system,” Flareup reassured.

“I love you,” he smiled weakly.

She returned the expression and blew him a kiss before letting Jack hop onto her shoulder and transformed, roaring out of the compound as Bee watched eerily.   
\--------------------------------

Henry rested on top of a weapons crate, reading the various articles that dominated newspapers about the incident at the MGM and Bendy’s uncanny upsurge in crime. It used to always be a recurring nightmare but this time, it was reality once again.

Bendy wouldn’t stop until he got him back, he knew that much. But did the ink demon know that these crimes made Henry wish to be near him a lot less? It was one thing for Bendy to seek revenge on Joey for bringing him to life but at least he still held aspects of his original embodiment Henry could admire and hope to bring back into the light as the character he once loved but this true nature was just horrific to deal with. If only Bendy could see that. 

He cared for his creations, he always did and it made him wonder had he stayed and nurtured them into stars, would they have turned out different even among the 4D world? Granted, Bendy was an actual demon back then when he first awoke with no recollection of the actual character’s quirks but there were some instances of “Bendy” recognizing certain cues from the cartoons themselves that showed potential. A part of him did believe he was to blame. There was a chance to make things right and he never took it.

Maybe it wasn’t too late though. All he needed to do was be there for Bendy and the cast and maybe things would turn for the better. Keeping Bendy out of trouble would prove difficult though. It would be like trying to rehabilitate a murderous nine year old trained to act upon greed and his own version of right and wrong. 

Speaking of which, Bendy being born from his concept had produced traits that kind of reflected himself in the ink demon. When he was younger, he used to be very calculative and cunning with words, often hiding meanings and messages under the noses of anyone around him; Bendy used this way of speaking all the time. He was an awkward lover; from what Bumblebee told him, Bendy had a bit of trouble laying down relational feelings and possibly expressing actual care for others. He held crude humor when he disliked something or someone; Bendy flat out insults people using jokes and undertone manipulative speech patterns. They were alike because Henry made him that way. 

Running from Bendy was almost like running from himself and for too long, this caused him nothing but grief. Maybe it was time to give in; maybe he would be happier that way. There was nothing to fear anymore because neither Bendy nor the others would dare harm him for they knew the truth. He was them and they are him, each a segment of his mind illustrated and brought to life.

Casey was no doubt his negative train of thought. The Butcher Gang resembled his lack of acceptance of what he’s done through the idea of the Three Wise Monkeys, that ever-so-famous gimmick. The Sheep had to be his hidden impulses against what he disliked. Alice was his insecurity while Boris his concept of innocence in all this. Bendy was his consciousness, his personality, but most of all his sanity. Despite the evil lurking nature of the demon, he was quite sane but only just enough to keep him rational as an excusable option. Bendy kept the others in line, that’s how he managed to prevent himself from doing what Joey did and killing everybody. Bendy was his lifeline and now they were destined to stay on this miserable planet forever with each other.

A wave of depression hit Henry fast and he felt tears clump up at the edge of his eyelids. Bendy wasn’t a monster, he was. Everything the demon did was on him and he had to live with that knowingly or unknowingly. Joey may have built the Machine but he built them. They weren’t the bad guys of this script, he was.  
\----------------------------

Flareup and Arcee cautiously observed the crime scene as the police did their best to determine how Bendy got in and what his motive was. It didn’t really take a detective to get the idea that his wrath was swift for losing Henry but finding out Professor Princess was an adult may have just fueled his mental snap. Killing her may have just been a bonus attack, something to relinquish some pressure off on.

Arcee was talking to Jack and Captain Fanzone as Flareup noticed the footprints of the demon. Despite wearing shoes integrated into his design, Bendy’s outsole tracks resembled hooves more akin to a cow than a goat which was the popular animal icon for the devil in modern time and his heel mark seemed to be four dots which made no sense since no animal had four dew-claws. 

A sudden wheeze that appeared no more than two feet away from her audials made her jump and turn. The breathing was ghostly and faint in an instant and she quickly peered back at Arcee to make sure there were no tricks from her. The motorcycle and the humans remained unfazed as a voice that didn’t match Bendy’s whispered in a completely different direction of her peers.

_Do you see me? Do you believe in me?_

Her helm felt a bit woozy as she walked out of sight of her teammate but she ignored it. She didn’t know why she was walking away but she just had the urge to as if something was making her do it. Immediately as she passed the apartment boundaries, flashes of cartoons and Bendy filled her vision as she stumbled. She gripped her helm and tried to yell for Arcee but she couldn’t hear any response as if the world had frozen or perhaps she had become invisible somehow.

Collapsing onto the ground, her vision pulsed as she began to feel sleepy. When her optics briefly closed and reopened, a figure was suddenly in her line of sight. The more she blinked sluggishly, the closer it came until she could tell the figure was kneeling in front of her. She felt her chin being lifted and the last thing she saw before becoming unconscious was the white face and pie-cut eyes everyone had come to fear smiling down evilly at her.

“Don’t fear, darling, all your troubles will vanish and I will set you free.”

Meanwhile, Arcee finished talking to the detectives on site when she glanced around to find Flareup gone. Her smile faded after a minute and her confusion turned to panic. “Flare? Flare!?”

She rounded the building screaming her sister’s name but no response came. Then she cried as she saw something on the ground. Jack followed her until he caught up with her sobbing form and he froze too when on the concrete, a wicked message in ink lied venomously. 

_A life for a life, Bumblebee._

“No!” Jack shouted. “Flareup!”  
\--------------------------------

The ringing in her audio receptors didn’t feel great.

“Flareup. Wake up, my dear; this isn’t going to be fun if you’re asleep.”

Her vision returned and the first thing she noticed was the giant rollercoaster throne with pretty lights and behind it, several reels were projecting on the walls. Glancing around, Bendy cartoons were running directly above each poster that represented each episode. Hanging dimly lit throughout the chamber, dead bodies of humans swung lifelessly and a few impaired the light of the projections. How many of them there were she couldn’t say but fear was beginning to rattle her senses.

Then she saw them. Cartoon animals, ink monsters, and toons alike surrounded her with the one called Casey dipping down from the ceiling but poised like a snake just above the throne. Alice giggled crudely as the human-sized ink monsters growled and moaned, Sammy slapping his axe against his thigh menacingly. A pentagram erupted from thin air beneath Flareup as if she was a sacrifice and a bubbling ink blot that spawned in front of her shot out Bendy who took a show host stance as if he was enlightening an audience. As goofy as the theatrical movement was, he was far from someone to laugh at now. All present clapped and whistled just to appease his cruel ego of faux showmanship.

“Ladies and Gentlemen…and Alice-”

“Asshole…”

“Tonight, we have a special guest from Detroit who has graced us with _volunteering_ for an intriguing once-in-a-lifetime act! She’s an Autobot who hails from the endearing planet of Cybertron and she’s here, folks, to prove how love can be a tomb! She will be performing a three-part segment of perdition, plunder, and passing all the while pleasuring us with an amazing show of pleas and prayers…that no one will hear. Give a round of applause for the foxy, flaming Flareup!”

They roared in response with little to no acknowledgment of her discomfort. Many of the monsters leaned against the railing of the balconies above the throne room while the others on ground level sat in the almost invisible stands constructed sans Casey but Bendy remained standing with a harsh smile. The show was about to begin and she was the star. Flareup hardly noticed she was not tied up but even if she did try to run, where would she go?

“Warning: all minors should be removed from the show at once. This content isn’t family friendly and is rated NC-17 for blood and gore, graphic violence, strong sexual content, and adult language. Viewer discretion is advised,” Bendy quickly remarked and winked, mimicking the deep baritone of the movie trailer narrating voice commonly heard on TV.

“Okay time to go, Ally,” Susie suddenly spoke, nearly pushing the little girl out with her giant gloved hand through the cracked open door.

The doll frowned sadly, “But-?” 

“No buts! Go and play with Charley. He and the Butcher Gang enjoy hanging out with you.”

As Alice closed the door, Flareup’s attention was quickly reestablished towards Bendy when the demon slammed the staff end of his mallet down just beside her to make her jump. She gulped down tears, “Please, don’t do this! I didn’t do anything to you!”

Bendy sat on his calves, drawing himself down to eye level with her and gripped the handle of his weapon with obvious malevolence but with a hint of amusement. He placed his free hand to hold her chin up to face him as he began to laugh. “You didn’t do anything?”

“What did I-?”

He scoffed, “What did you do? I’ll tell you exactly what you did. You helped Bumblebee take away my Creator from me. You were the one who picked him up and ran with him while you dragged Bee in tow. You interrupted me trying to get Bee to understand why taking him was a bad idea. You entered a conflict that had nothing to do with you. And to top it all off, you just exist. Like, you are a thorn in my side not just because of what you did with Henry now that I think about it but because I frankly think you’re the cause of why communication with Bumblebee has been so unreasonable. Given that, I’m going to have to solve this problem because I don’t like to lose. I’m not saying I’m…jealous…but I think I’ll be better off without you here.”

Flareup stared horrified at the demon, “I’m sorry! I didn’t-!”

“Hush, toots. Tonight, you will give the final performance of your life and everything will be just fine. Henry will be returned to me and you’ll help me convince Bumblebee to make it so. Unfortunately, the process may be a bit painful but hey, no pleasure without agony first, my dear. You’ll see, I promise.”

Bendy stood up lightning fast and twirled his mallet majestically as he addressed his crowd, “Let the show begin!”

Before Flareup could react, Bendy immediately swung the hammer around and sent her head cracking sideways. An unsettling amount of pain soared through her processor as she gripped the ground, coughing up Energon from the dizziness. Her facial protoform had ripped from impact above her optic and partially across her nose plating which made the broken pieces dig uncomfortably into the unscathed areas. 

Bendy circled her with a grin, “Aw, you know what? I kind of forgot to tell you something about Henry. He’s charming, very outside-the-box person and he just had a knack of making you smile even when you’re down.”

Another strike came down on her spine that sent her chest down collapsed on the floor. She cried in pain but no one paid any mind to it as Bendy continued.

“He earned himself a nickname among the studio as just a fun teaser name among friends: the Animaniac. No, it’s not a parody of the Warner Brothers trademark cartoon. He was called that because he would go behind Joey’s back and just make me do all sorts of crazy shit the censors would absolutely hate! Like he once animated me writing a bunch of propaganda of World War One all over Casey’s train cars like graffiti and they said terrible things about the Germans. Terrible! But it made everybody laugh. Joey wasn’t too pleased when he found out about of the shenanigans. Now you know where I get my mischievous and somewhat evil side from,” he chuckled.

He suddenly stood over her and grabbed a part of her helm, swinging down and breaking off her left audial fin. Turning her over, he placed his mallet on the ground knowing she was too weak to grab it and hit her over and over until ink broke through his knuckles and dripped down his gloves onto her torso. All the while he enjoyed her struggling, her painful howls as he struck her down again until he threw her back onto the ground a bloody mess. He couldn’t help but laugh as he saw how bad her face was bashed and stained. 

Casey gave a rumble of approval as the others kept their feelings of the situation relatively quiet to not interrupt the show. Even Joey showed no disapproval of her punishment but then again, his sickly Bendy form was always smiling so it was hard to tell.

Bendy returned to circling his prey as he grabbed his mallet putting it on his backside and brushed off the loose ink on his gloves that ruptured from his punches. “You know, Henry was the first person I ever loved. He was the first I ever saw when I awoke and I felt a sense of loyalty to him despite not knowing who he was. I just felt happy with him as if the universe was telling me we belonged together. For too long we were apart and every day in agony I waited for him to come back, not knowing what to do or how to find my way in that studio where I was left to rot. Finally, I found him again and my happiness returned when I had lost almost all hope. Of course, that was before you and Bumblebee intervened.”

He sent a couple of sharp kicks to her side, hearing the framework of the inside break and concave. One alarming kick afterwards to the helm almost knocked her out but she held consciousness barely as Bendy observed her head bob idly. He crouched down right next to her head with a mocking sneer.

“But we both know how bad a decision that ended up being, don’t we? You see, it’s more Bumblebee’s fault than anything you have to go through this and it had been the breaking of his end in the promise that you made the decision to go rescue Henry. Had Bee stayed in his place, you would be cozy with him in your guy’s berth right now sipping Energon and quite frankly that sounds much better than being here even for me. Look where your love for him got you. That mech probably should come with a warning label at this point because a lot of people have died around him I’ve noticed, before and after my arrival. Next time when you choose a mate, choose one that isn’t a hazard magnet.”

Alice and Allison watched with rather uncertain looks as Flareup was beaten still. Tom comforted Allison who flinched back when a one hit shattered the Autobot’s belly armor. Sammy didn’t react much as the femme threw up Energon from that. Casey and the Sheep glared happily at the sight and for once, they agreed that they both loved her screams as Bendy continued to assault her. “Bendy” Joey held his chin in his gloved hand almost daydreaming, peering down with the Searchers as the latter moaned what he could interpret as amusement. Boris face palmed and kept peeking at the carnage but looking away whenever a strike made Flareup wheeze and bleed more.

In an unknown turn of the mood, Bendy began shouting at her as his attacks became absolutely brutal and nonstop. “YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT US ALONE! I ALMOST HAD MY CREATOR UNTIL YOU SHOWED UP! YOU…RUINED…EVERYTHING…YOU…STUPID…FUCKING…BITCH!”

Some of the Searchers and Lost Ones backed away a little in Bendy’s silhouette as the shadow depicted the ink demon pummeling the poor femme to near death. It was one thing to see Bendy kill a Searcher out of anger but apologize, and maybe see him kill a human but this was beyond what they thought he was capable of. This was a first for them to see their leader so violent. Even Casey’s ever-so-persistent humor in violence somewhat faded after a while watching Bendy. The Sheep seemed to lose their taste too, from cheering to curling against each other with various degrees of fear. Then he stopped to their surprise.

Flareup was still alive as far as all of them could tell, lying on her back in a bloody mess. Bendy’s mallet and gloves as well as his bow tie and parts of his body had Energon spots and on the white areas, ink also leaked from stress and vicious movements. His face was webbed black like sweat stains. He snorted and spit some ink out of his mouth before eyeing his handiwork. 

Pausing midstride, Bendy peered at her form up and down, and he heard her soft whimpers before something sinister played in his mind. A very evil smile crept up his melting face as he wiped some of the ink off. He threw away his mallet and climbed on top of her, his glove swearing some of the Energon as he mapped her abdomen. Her whimpers became pleas once she realized what he was going to do.

“Bendy, don’t you think this is taking it a bit far?” Boris asked.

A serpent-like tongue slipped between sharp teeth and licked her bleeding cheek as an inhumane purr rose from the demon’s throat. He then retracted it, sat up and huffed, “The point is to send a message and what do I send to someone who steals my Creator who has been a gone almost a complete human lifetime?”

Sammy gave a wary look, “I think he means why rape her?”

“Oh,” Bendy backtracked, “well sexual frustration comes with my line of work since cartoons are built to be abstinent so this will help with that stupid flaw. She looks very appealing covered in blood.”

“Not a good enough reason to rape someone though,” the musician pressed.

“You want to fucking try and stop me?”

All members of his crew shook their heads in sync and Bendy simply placed one hand beside Flareup’s helm and the other tore off her interface panel. She cried from the action and tried to push at his masculine chest but he leaned forward to whisper in her working audial fin.

“It’s too bad Bumblebee couldn’t make it tonight but I promise you’ll see him tomorrow for the last part of your act. Until dawn, it’s just you, me, and the audience. Smile, babe, you’re the star and I’m your host for this evening.”

He positioned himself between her and he glanced oddly down at his crotch. Humming, he realized he had no genitals but like his hands and feet, it was up to interpretation what it would look like if he did. Since there was no confirmed anatomy regarding those issues, he could shapeshift them into whatever he wanted. His hands could be human-like or maybe crab-like for all he knew but Henry never gave him real hands so there were no limits. Since he was confirmed male based on Earth standards, this of course meant he had at least male parts…but what did they look like? Thinking hard at all the possible structures, he finally shrugged and muttered as he shifted his lower region to support a human-horse mixed appendage. Being a demon, he figured it fit what could be.

Stroking the blood on her thighs, he entered her with a beastly growl. He moved harshly and smiled as she wailed. He scoffed at her attempts to retaliate and grabbed one of her thrown arms that aimed for his head. With one quick movement he snapped her arm at the elbow, leaving it unusable as a warning. Her remaining servo merely pushed on his abdomen and sides as lubricated tears mixed with the Energon leaking down her face.

“BUMBLEBEE-E-E!” Flareup yelled with her dying voice.

Bendy frowned, “Scream all you want, he can’t save you just like he couldn’t save those humans. Remember, all this is happening because of him and you’ll get to tell him that tomorrow morning. Everything you have endured and will be experiencing is all…BUMBLEBEE’S…FAULT!”

Alice just blinked with absolute disappointment and held a hand to her mouth before shaking her head and going to the door on the right towards Bendyland, shrinking to human size. Sammy held slight distaste but when he noticed Susie fleeing, he followed to comfort his love. The Projectionist gripped the railing beside Joey and both exchanged interested glances. All the others varied in opinions of the scene with Casey, the once proud sadistic entity, frowning from how loud Flareup was screaming. At this point, he would gladly just kill her to shut her up. He was one of the rare few that didn’t mind the actions of Bendy and saw why the demon would like such a thing but was more so bothered with the noises.

Bendy panted as he felt his body reacting in ways he had never anticipated. So this was sex? Well, a darker form because of the unwilling partner but he found more pleasure among her unhappiness than the mutual moans he heard from the videos he watched online. And to be fair, he had only learned of the concept through the Internet so this was relatively his first time but since he was feeling ecstasy, he figured he was doing it right. “Thank you, Pornhub. Reminder: I got to remember to delete you later from my browser history.”

A coarse laugh emitted from Bendy’s vocals and he bit down on Flareup’s neck to hear her screech more as he harshly drove himself deeper towards climaxing. He jerked upright as he held her thigh in one hand and pawed at the chest plates that resembled human breasts, Energon staining his teeth blue while his front was nearly riddled with it since he had rubbed against her damaged form multiple times. 

“And to think, Bumblebee was going to fuck you one day when you were happily married. Guess his loss is my banquet. Kind of wish you contribute more but I like it nonetheless, don’t you?”

Flareup shook with a wail, “Please! No more!”

“Aw well I’m not done yet and it would be rude not to let me finish,” Bendy mocked.

With several more powerful thrusts, Bendy finally reached orgasm and gripped her legs tightly as he let out a pleased groan. He twitched his hips while Flareup made a disgusted cry and an expression of distress. In the background, Bendy could only smirk as Casey made a sigh of relief she had quieted down to whimpers. A few of the darker thinking toons and monsters had found their own version of pleasure from the display and they finished their business not long after. The Sheep were the guiltiest of this and chatted up a storm between each other.

Flareup looked extremely terrible and barely conscious but Bendy could only indulge her with words she dreaded to hear. As he absorbed the ink that made his cock back into the crotch region of his body, he leaned down to stare her in the half awake, pained optics.

He snarled gleefully, “You think we’re done until tomorrow? Hate to break it to you, my dear, but it’s only ten o’clock at night. I said we’re going until the sun peaks which means you’ll be broken by dawn, body and mind. Punishment and obscenity is what I’ll give you but I’ll switch them to keep things interesting.”

“I…want to go home,” the femme muttered as her optics watered for the umpteenth time.

“Oh, you poor unfortunate soul. You can’t now.”  
\--------------------------------

Bumblebee sighed, “Henry, we can’t keep you here. It’s only a matter of time before Bendy finds the Autobot base. If we rotate you across various properties every week or so, he won’t be able to figure out where you are.”

“But always on the run? House to house? What type of lifestyle is that? It’s bad enough I live in constant fear of what I’ve helped create but this is just a nightmare,” Henry scowled.

“Has it not been already?”

The human rubbed the bridge of his nose, “Eventually, I’ll have to face him. This chase can’t go on forever. Neither of us are ever going to die but you eventually will. What then? Are you-are you going to teach your children and your children’s great grandchildren how to keep me alive and safe from a demon? I am needed to break that curse. Without me, Bendy isn’t going to just roll in a grave and give up. You need to face the fact that there are people you can’t protect no matter what you do.”

 _“Bumblebee!”_ Arcee shouted.

The yellow Camaro held up one digit to pause the conversation and Henry rolled his eyes. “Arcee? What’s wrong?”

His face drained with her next words. _“Bendy kidnapped Flareup!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know someone's probably wondering why Casey and the Sheep wouldn't be disturbed by the rape. The Searchers and the ink monsters were once human so they wouldn't be as approving unless one of them were rapists in the past (unlikely) however, toons are mostly characters come to life so they have no concept of wrong and right to where they would react the same way as a real person would. I know rape is a very triggering thing but Bendy's character is dark and this probably helps elaborate the lengths he would go for his Creator considering all he's gone through.


	9. Turning the Tide

When the news of Flareup’s kidnapping hit him, Bumblebee found his processor straining to comprehend it. He almost bridged out immediately until Optimus stopped him in fear of him jeopardizing Flareup’s life by pushing Bendy’s hand upon his unanticipated appearance. Bendy wasn’t one to stick out a hostage situation if he were to go alerted. All he could do to his wits end is wait for a sizable force of Autobots to come forth and back him up with a decent strategy. Flareup could be dead now or worse. And the sad part was there was nothing Bumblebee could do.

Pacing frantically, he saw military-based bots and vehicles preparing to carry out the general’s orders to swarm the studio and destroy it as well as the Machine once Flareup was rescued. The U.S. government declared Bendy a national terrorist and instead of trying to reason with him, they vouched to get rid of him. Very few saw this as a bad idea and one of those people was Henry. If Henry was doubtful of the military’s success in extinguishing Bendy, there was cause for concern.

A slew of panicked and gasping voices as well as the motions of bots and humans alike running in one direction made Bumblebee stop. Something was happening to make everyone act like that but what could it possibly be at this-

“BUMBLEBEE!”

He shot outside so fast he damn near tripped over several Minicons frozen in fear. Tanks locked onto what everyone seemed to dread and for good reason. Bee’s spark pulsed profusely.

Chains rattled a little as they were wound tightly across Flareup’s body which was coated in layers of Energon seeping from too many injuries to count. She drifted side to side woozily from the lack of Energon, his optics barely showing the blue she owned. Standing just behind her with a fanged grin, Bendy twirled his mallet before setting the staff end down onto the asphalt with a loud thump. He pinpointed Bumblebee from the crowd as he ignored Optimus glaring at him from the side.

The ink demon spit to the right of him and Energon mixed with ink splattered as if he had not liked her taste which alarmed Bee even more. His teeth had Energon glazed near the gums while there were spots of blue on his thighs, chest, and arms. Smiling wickedly, his gloved hand clamped down on the portion of the chain he held tensely. 

“I tried to be nice to you, Bumblebee, I really did,” he sounded with slight regret or pain but Bee couldn’t tell. “But it seems that you don’t know when quit and I…I had to do this. She was a good girl, don’t worry, but perhaps too good for you to keep.”

Bumblebee shakily spoke, “Bendy, please give her to me! I-I’m sorry and it-”

“SORRY? Why-why would you apologize when you and I both know your morals made you take Henry away from me? Like last time I checked, your morals are what you make them so you can’t be sorry because that’s how you work. I don’t give a damn about what you feel about your actions. You did what you had to do and I’m doing what I have to do. Circle of life, right?”

The warrior shook his head, “I know what you’re going to do. Please, don’t do this!”

“I could have said the same thing to you but in the end, it wouldn’t have mattered,” Bendy scoffed. 

Flareup stirred with weary optics as she finally caught sight of her mate and with a soft plea, she whispered his name. It was the last thing she said when suddenly both of Bendy’s clawed hands wrapped around the base of her neck and utter horror of the Autobots fled up vocally as her entire head was torn from her body in one swift motion. Blood erupted from the cables severed in a massive burst as her body slumped forward and Bumblebee screamed the loudest but didn’t dare move towards her.

With a neutral frown, Bendy held up her decapitated helm with one glove and stared Bumblebee down. “You failed to give me Henry; I failed to give you Flareup. I guess I’d call that even, huh?”

Tears rolled down Bee’s cheeks as he gave a distressed moan and closed his optics, not wanting to look at her deceased form. Stumbling to the side as he ran his digits across his face to wipe the wetness of his faceplates, he barely heard the cries of Arcee and Chromia, Flareup’s sisters, yelling everything from profanity to heartbreaking words.

Bendy let her head go and still held eye contact as it bounced onto the ground with a sickening thud before he kicked it towards Bumblebee who whimpered as her face was parallel to his when it stopped right beside his pede.

“You want me to be the bad guy? That’s fine. I really don’t have a fucking problem with that since I apparently can’t be trusted as all villains seem to be. Next time you break a deal with me, I’ll kill you.”

To everyone’s surprise, Bendy pulled something from his chest and threw it beside Flareup. It was immediately recognized as the missing Allspark shard as it clattered and glowed bright for a brief second before dimming.

Bumblebee knelt down on the ground in front of Flareup’s cooling head and hesitantly picked it up. His optics blurred from the moisture as he peered into her lifeless ones. He didn’t even acknowledge Bendy who turned to leave and ran off as the tanks tried to fire upon the demon with the intent to kill which was absolutely pointless if they knew the ink monster as well as he did.

He ran a digit under her left optic and muttered over and over, “I-I’m s-sorry! I’m s-so s-sorry!”

Pressing his helm against hers, he wailed as Optimus ran to him and slid onto his calves immediately to cradle his son. Bee rocked a little on his knees trying to make sense of the loss while the Prime tried to keep him as calm and steady as possible.

Blurr appeared horrified and glanced between his friend, the Prime, and the dead femme before slowly asking, “Optimus, s-sir, what do wish for us to do? Should we pursue Bendy?”

Optimus’ optics grew dark as he held Bumblebee’s grieving form against his chest. He growled, “Prepare to strike the studio. Destroy the Ink Machine.”  
\----------------------------

Bendy kicked the doors to his throne room open, sending the metal off its track which prevented it from automatically closing. He punched one of his cutouts which ripped instantly before swinging to his right and shattering a mirror with his logo on it. The pieces scattered onto the floor as a few Searchers stared at him, cowering in his presence.

Bumblebee should have known better than to drag his Autobot friends into their game. He should have just done what was asked of him and everything would be okay. It was his entire fault. Nothing bad was supposed to happen…but reality didn’t work like a cartoon. 

His breathing grew heavy as pie-slit eyes widened when they wandered to the faded Energon-stained floor in front of his throne where he had brutally beaten and raped Bee’s deceased future mate. In a cartoon, this would have been stoppable, reversible even to a degree. Cartoon characters didn’t die; cartoon characters could take anything thrown at them and still be fine. But this wasn’t a cartoon. Flareup wasn’t a cartoon character or Bumblebee for that matter.

The realization dawned on Bendy what he did, what he managed to inflict. There were no censors to stop the crimes he just committed, no commercial breaks to set the tension and relief, and no direction as to what his actions should have been. _He_ did this by himself and there never was anyone to stop him. In his cartoons, he never had to think for himself, never was lost in the heat of the moment because there was a script but this wasn’t part of the script, he had none and now he didn’t know what to do, how to cope with it.

His reflection in the broken glass made him shake his head as he studied his own features for the first time. The only thing he saw was a monster. He was supposed to be the real Bendy but he didn’t look like the original, he didn’t act like the original so what was he? The real Bendy didn’t kill people. The real Bendy didn’t harm his _friends_.

Bumblebee was the closest thing he had to a friend outside the studio and yet, he did exactly like Joey did. He wanted his way and he destroyed whoever stood in front of what he wanted. He wanted Henry just as Joey wanted Bendy and now he was no better than the person he despised most who caused his fellow ink monsters’ misery. He was the villain. 

With a distraught groan, he swept up pieces of the glass into his hands and still sat horrified at his reflection. He then clasped them into fists, ignoring the pain as he stumbled to his knees in the exact spot of Flareup’s sealed fate. Dropping the glass, he quickly patted the stains as if he was looking for something, as if he was trying to believe she was still there and he was trying to find her. His claws raked through the dried Energon frantically before bringing his palms into view to see them spotted with dirt and blood alike.

“What have I done!? Wha-I didn’t mean for this…to…” 

Inky webbed streaks melted down his white face from the bottom of his eyes like tears as he flexed his hands with the soil and remaining fluid still sticking uncomfortably. He felt lost as to what to do. An expression of confusion and panic flooded his facial features while he opened and closed his mouth uncertainly. Frantically, he peered around the room. There was no one to help him.

Abruptly, a booming sound rang above him in the distance and the ceiling rumbled. Pieces of rock crumbed off which made the ink demon glance upward, brows furrowed. He instantly shot out of his throne room, wiping away the black marks of ink on his face as he tried to pinpoint what the noise was. Another roared, this time coming from the mine shaft that was a common entrance for Casey and Bumblebee to use.

A sudden explosion on the rim of one of the cave’s sky lights made the Searchers and toons present wince in terror as huge chunks of rock and a tree from above came crashing down beside the Heavenly Toys waterfall, cracking the floor boards. The mine shaft was quickly breached by two large human-operated tanks and one Cybertronian alt mode who didn’t hesitate in firing at Bendy or his throne room. He managed to duck out of the way but the giant metal Bendy head over his door split from several shots. Alice and Boris’ door heads also took damage with the halo of the former rolling off to break the stairwell to the higher elevated part of the area.

Casey rammed the tank Transformer but it didn’t faze the vehicle’s persistent charge as it fired upon him. The train dove into the nearest wall angrily as Sammy and “Bendy” Joey rallied as many Searchers and Lost Ones as possible to defend the studio.

The sky lights now lacking the trees to safeguard their entrances allowed several armed Transformers and humans to rope down into the studio and began firing on anything within. Bendy found himself too shocked to start protecting his home as the intruders turned towards the Ink Machine’s domain. A rather large brute of an Autobot he remembered was named Ironhide tore the doors back with great strength, revealing the Machine’s labyrinth.

Panting in chaos, Bendy ran into the nearest wall to teleport and forced himself to spawn in the Machine’s room. As more rumbling shook the area, the toon animals in their pens roared in shock as many fled into the underground jungle across from the only exit, perpendicular to the Ink Machine’s main chamber. It didn’t escape his notice the Machine’s pentagram was glowing dark blue before brightly assuming a red aura as another hit from a tank struck too close to the doors.

Alice Angel jumped up from the floor and cried out, “Bendy, what are we going to do? It’s only a matter of time before they get in here! The Machine can’t hold them off forever even with magic. There eventually won’t be any walls left for it to hide its entrance and then what?”

The ink demon was perplexed. He solemnly stared at the wooden boards he stood upon. “I…I don’t know.”

Susie shook her head, “That’s not a great answer right now-”

“I DON’T KNOW!” Bendy hissed, his voice twisted along with his facial structure before turning back to normal.

“Well…when you figure it out, find us because we aren’t staying here. We can’t.”

Bendy didn’t say a word as Susie disappeared as other Searchers followed suit. He knew one thing, he was going to stay. He caused this mess and now he was going to face it head on. A particularly loud blast stirred the demon from his oblivion. The doors of the chamber flew with such velocity, Bendy winced as its tip hit the arch to the underground jungle and cartwheeled the remainder of its flight down into the valley.

He growled as humans and tanks took their positions in attack formation, all facing him and the Machine. He could feel the Machine huffing at how primitive the humans were being but he sensed no fear.

“Come on!” Bendy yelled with his teeth bared. In the distance, he could hear Casey’s roars as shots were fired believably at the train before a pop and splash of ink echoed. They managed to subdue him for the time being and Bendy could only imagine how the others were holding up if there were more Transformers and tanks bombarding the place and its residents.

The tanks in the room purred to life and this time, the shots hit him. He moaned as several shots his chest and abdomen while one struck the side of his head creating a massive hole. His grunts became demonic as he began losing stability in his form, ink bursting from him with every blast until one good shot hit the base of his torso, exploding him finally despite he tried to roar at them once more.

As soon as he was down, the Machine was the last standing. More burly Transformers entered and aimed at is as it contemplated its options. It did want to die, but not like this. This was unfair. 

A human pointed at it. “Fire!”

_NO!_

Several shots ruptured the ink lines running down along the wall to it and pieces of metal from its structure flew off. Its pentagram was hit directly, shattering the face and exposing the gears. It too made unnatural noises as it was pierced over and over. A piston pump broke from its back intake while two others began to stall. A blast severed a third of its left side, sending pieces scattered as one pipeline dislodged and fell over to crush the right side of it. Then one shot hit the core originally hidden behind its pentagram wall and the Machine let out an alien screech.

The remainder of it exploded, bursting into a plume of fire as practically every part of it was thrown outward. Leftover ink popped from its hull and the Machine grew silent. The intact pistons creaked as they slowed to a stop and the flow of ink ceased from the pipes. From the occasional clanking of metal adjusting from the broken parts, nothing moved. No ink monsters spawned and no Bendy returned.

The soldiers still kept their guns trained on the corpse of the Machine until one studied the wreckage and smiled. “We did it, boys!”

Both Transformers and humans cheered in victory at the sight. The monsters tackled and dead. Vengeance was theirs.  
\--------------------

_“Optimus, the Machine has been destroyed. No sign of Bendy or his friends except for a stain on the floor.”_

“Thank you, Ironhide. Tell the others to seize the property and send in investigators to the site,” the Prime sighed in relief.

_“On it!”_

He turned towards Bumblebee who lay on his back, one arm resting on his stuttering chest from crying and the other set over his optics. Optimus sat beside the yellow mech and placed a servo on Bee’s kneecap. 

He calmly spoke, “Are you feeling better?”

With a gulp and a strained voice, Bee responded, “I…feel terrible like that time Megatron shot me in the spark three times in a row before I was saved by the Omega Lock. I just don’t know if I can take much more of this.”

Optimus shook the warrior’s leg in a slight playful manner to try and cheer him up. “It is going to be fine, Bee. We are all here for you; I am here and you know I will stay with you until you are ready to continue on. I refuse to leave your side.”

“Thanks, that really means so much to me.”

Both mechs smiled at each other until Optimus instantly winced, his available servo clutching his right audial area. 

Bee frowned and lifted his arm up off his face to see what was wrong. “Optimus?”

“Ironhide, what is happening? Ironhide!?” Prime demanded.  The sudden static in his comm. system didn’t help him determine what was happening but he knew it was Ironhide from the hud readings. He shot off the berth and synced his comm. link to the nearest console to see if he could get a better signal. 

_“…rrrrrrrrrr…AAAAA…AAAAAAHHHHHH!”_

The voice was distorted but the signal was identifying it from Ironhide.

“Ironhide!”  
\--------------------

“On it! Bossbot said he wants this place tagged and bagged!”

All the humans and several tank-formers alike laughed as they scrounged about the ruins of the studio. But one soldier’s chuckling died when a piece of metal slid past him on its own back towards the wreckage of the Ink Machine. His eyes tracked its movement and his face fell while the others were still joking, not even paying attention. Soon other pieces dragged back and reconnected like puzzle pieces, bending back into shape to fit their counterparts. 

The soldier’s eyes followed every step of construction until he noticed the growing shadow looming above him. Pipes latched onto one another as pistons reset, snapping back into place. Gears rolled and bounced up on other pieces to slide or jump into their respective positions. They rotated a little to check if they were connected before the exterior began to cover them. He grew frightened as the pentagram rebuilt itself, glowing each time a portion of its demonic star was completed.

He didn’t notice the background chatter of his peers had gone relatively silent. When everything was fully intact, the vents spewed steam in a cruel hiss of mockery at him and he could feel the air grow heated, almost deadly. 

The Ink Machine stood before him with its pentagram a raging red and the symbols pulsing with malevolence. The pistons along its back area revved up as the ink pressure automatically kicked in. Ink slide through the pipes at a fast rate with a red pulse following the pipes down to the Machine in sync to the beat of its rumbles like music. The computer screens upon the chamber wall on both sides whirred to life and images of every character from the Bendy cartoons was present in their original designs including some never before seen in a real life form yet. The controls behind the soldier to the opposite wall clicked and moved as the screens showed the icons scrolling as if the Machine was looking for one in particular. 

Everybody’s eyes widened when an unfamiliar toon called _Baron Bacon_ was zoomed in as their icon was selected and a download bar appeared. It was pig-like humanoid toon that kind of reminded a few humans of Pete from the Mickey Mouse cartoons they grew up with. 

Gears turned profusely as the faucet of the Machine shook from the force. The download was faster than any of them anticipated and they all stood back when the faucet purged black ink into its tray. It continued to pour as a three-clawed hand burst from the glob built up in seconds. It looked a lot like the Sheeps’ hand hoof structure scarily enough. The arm formed quickly as a pig-like head finally was created. The body was constructed efficiently until hooved feet clattered angrily onto the floor in front of the Machine’s view.

Like Bendy, this “Baron Bacon” looked altered from his original form and dwarfed the humans and almost Ironhide himself. Unlike the cartoon, however, his appearance was far from a silly pig face with stubby tusks, a cartoonish kingly outfit, and an eyepatch. The face of the Baron was far more accurate to that of a warthog and his tusks were long and jagged while his ears had clips in them with one circular earring in the right. He had what appeared to be a burly mane with no crown or hat and a scarred snout with one cut zigzagged all the way under the eyepatch to his eyebrow indicating battle scars despite never being in the real world before. His body wasn’t just fat but defined with heavyweight muscles and had a tinge of Cybertronian design among the shoulders and torso. The medieval royal outfit with what was clearly chainmail was ripped along the arm length and on the pants at the calves but still armored elsewhere, giving the toon a much more ogre appearance. A slightly crooked tail with a cloud of fur at the tip was also visible where in his original appearance, no such appendage existed before.

Baron Bacon snorted at them, locking sights on Ironhide before roaring and charging. The truck Transformer didn’t know what hit him. He made the Autobot fly back into the wall with a well-placed hit in the faceplates since he took advantage of the distraction.

The remaining Transformers fired upon the Baron but found he shot tolerance extremely high for a newborn ink monster. He only grunted when a shot hit his stomach region and continued forward, grabbing the nearest tank and throwing them back into the destroyed labyrinth.

A few humans tried to get shots off but were startled as ink suddenly surrounded them in a puddle and they had no time to react as they were launched upward as Bendy breached the surface. He stretched and popped his neck in agitation. He saw the whole display and as amusing as it was to see the looks on their faces when they forgot the rule of the pentagram’s magic now fused with Allspark energy permanently, it was time to take back his home.

He frowned when he noticed the Baron still pummeling Ironhide. Baron Bacon was one his sworn enemies in the cartoon world along with the Butcher Gang. There were others like Caesar, Casey’s supposed bad sibling, and God, the elemental and karma-inducing figure of his cartoon realm who technically was only a character known for causing bad luck to Bendy in order to teach him a lesson. He had no physical appearance thankfully therefore couldn’t be brought into the real world as far as Bendy knew. Baron Bacon, however, was the most evil out of all of them and even Bendy hated his methods.

Bendy instantly whistled and Searchers awoke in mass, yawning and yowling in their ghostly manner. Despite being former employees, they were really reliable as a force of opposition. They quickly crawled towards the nearest humans, drowning them in their essence while some climbed the Transformers to try and break into their bodies to practically goo up the inner workings which would kill them. A very efficient death though Bendy could imagine it would be painful.

The tanks and humans did their best to retaliate but they soon realized their intimidation had faded as the Machine couldn’t be destroyed and the studio had nothing left to extinguish. They had no more leverage and now the inhabitants knew this. As they tried to hold their ground, the toon animals that hid began poking in, snapping fangs and rearing to kick at any of the intruders who got near. They didn’t lose their creepy smiles as they attacked several soldiers.

The Machine gave no mercy, spawning new creatures that appeared to be hybrids of different animals in an attempt to scare off its enemies. And it indeed worked its charm. With more creations every second, none of the Transformers or humans could keep up with all the monsters and found they had no choice but to retreat as they were outnumbered thirty to one and growing.

Ironhide held his arm as the Baron’s claws ripped through part of his upper limb. He shook his head before darting from the chamber into the broken labyrinth towards the main area. He could hear the demonic snarl of Bacon following but found himself sidelined by a reinstated Casey who popped from the wall out of nowhere. He pushed himself back onto his pedes and hightailed to the mine shaft. Running up to the surface, he ignored the train whistle echoing angrily at him as a few humans who managed to escape ahead of him signaled him to safety.

In the distance in a complete one eighty of events, Ironhide heard the faint sound of screams from mech and human alike. The non-transforming tanks were no doubt thrown and crushed if not eaten by the titular train. He refused to look back.

“This is Ironhide requesting a ground bridge immediately!”

Back inside the ruined studio, Bendy sat on a pile of tank parts and decimated, barely living Transformers with a scowl as the remainder of the intruding forces were chased and killed if they hadn’t learned how to escape yet. He watched as Sammy sliced off a soldier’s head and held it up like Hamlet with a dark smile behind the old Bendy mask. 

“I have been a fool. I shouldn’t have done what I did and we wouldn’t have this mess of a sanctuary, our home,” he mused.

Casey rolled up to him with a piece of tank sticking out slightly from his chewing jaws. He growled with sympathy and patted his tail train car on the ground like a happy dog when Bendy glanced at him and smiled. 

The ink demon clasped the train’s cheek panels on the face and squished them a little with a mocking voice, “But I can say that home is more with the people you love rather than the destination and I still have you, huh girl?”

Casey purred, closing his optics pleasantly from the comforting touch.

He chuckled at his pet, “Things are indeed going to change, Casey. This was a wake up call that I’ve needed for a while, right girl? And I know where I need to start.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Heel-Face Realization seems cheesy but to be fair, he is a cartoon so cheesy is what he does. Of course, Bumblebee's probably not going to let the death of Flareup slide so what will happen next?
> 
> Also quick note on the new character I added. This is a funny story and I'll tell you why. When chapter 2 of _Bendy and the Ink Machine_ came out, I had a few theories as everyone else and one of them happened to be that the bacon soup was based off an enemy in the cartoons and Joey would probably be a sick psychopath to make a meal out of one of his characters considering. So I thought there may be a "Pete" to Bendy's "Mickey" and came up with the stupid character of Baron Bacon. I obviously discarded him not long after but I just found the notion still funny so I decided to add him too. And yes, God is essentially an anti-hero in the cartoons and has it out for Bendy. Caesar is just a random villain so I'm not going to elaborate much on her.


	10. Reality Check

Henry had watched the whole debacle of Flareup’s death and he got chills as he remembered when Bendy tore off the Projectionist’s camera head after he fled from the latter antagonist. It was, of course, a lot less bloody because ink stains replaced blood, but it was nevertheless scary.

Why was Bendy the most violent of the toons? Alice…Susie…was originally but now Bendy had surpassed her carnage rate by miles. That was a disturbing factor even he couldn’t get over.

He stared up at the diagnostics report for the new communications platform he was hired to design. It was said to be able to block Bendy from contacting Bee as well as hacking into any other communications network around the base. Until it was completed though, Bee would have to deal with Bendy if he called.

Since it was common knowledge to the toons that Henry resided on base, the government ordered and paid for him to stay in rental homes while switching to different locations every two weeks. It was kind of tiresome not having a place of his own anymore but he did enjoy the new views he was getting. Last week he was living in San Diego, California and ground bridging back to Detroit every few days to work. This week he was moved to Austin, Texas and he was one of the whitest people there but he didn’t mind as the locals found him a good neighbor so far. As long as Bendy couldn’t track him this way, they would continue to do this until the ink demon was destroyed.

Personally, he knew it would only delay the inevitable, especially after that chaos. If he were to give himself up, he could perhaps save people from death and the curse itself. Bumblebee had lost too much because of him. It was only fair now. 

He shook his head at the dwindling options. “There’s no way to survive this.”

“Only if you believe so,” a voice spoke.

Henry oddly glanced to his side to acknowledge the presence but his eyes never truly left the screen. He frowned, “Either I’m going to be imprisoned forever in an endless cycle or he’s going to kill everyone who tries to help me. It’s a lose-lose scenario.”

William Lennox stopped by his side with a smirk. “When I was held hostage by Megatron, I talked to him. I managed to get him to see keeping me as a prisoner was pointless because Optimus’ brigade was ordered to kill me to get to Megatron. He didn’t believe me but as the Autobots stormed closer, he panicked and let me reunite with my soldiers and Ironhide.”

“Optimus allowed you to be sacrificed?” Henry questioned in a horrified tone.

Lennox giggled, “No! I just told Megatron that to worry him. I lied that the ‘rules have changed.’”

The former cartoonist frowned, “Bendy isn’t like Megatron, Will. If I lie to him, then he’ll be out for blood.”

“Then don’t. Tell him the truth. Tell him you don’t want to be cooped up under his protection. It will only make you clinically depressed and/or insane. If Bendy loves you, he’ll respect that.”

Henry sighed, “Bendy wants this curse to be over just as much as the rest of my coworkers do. He won’t just give up on a revenge he’s had since 1932. It’s been too long he’s been alive. Everyone at the studio is tired of it.”

Lennox shrugged, “Like I said if he loves you, he’ll deal with the curse because he wants you to be with him on your own accord. If you break the curse, you might just continue aging off where you stopped while Bendy becomes no more. He then won’t have you and therefore his revenge would become moot. Like you said, it’s a lose-lose scenario. Bendy will either have to endure the curse to be with you or risk losing you forever when he does break it. He won’t win in the end. You’re the only factor that determines what will happen.”

The Colonel walked away with his arms behind his back as he left Henry to think. The greyish black haired man breathed solemnly as he processed the information.  
\------------------------

Bumblebee gloomily sat on his berth, his optics dim with the protoform lid under it feeling saggy. He hadn’t had a good night’s recharge in what seemed like forever. He just peered down in his empty lap with his servos hanging off his knees lifelessly. He was bored, tired, unhealthy, and just plain sad. He didn’t know what to do.

Flareup was his motivation to try for the position of Autobot Leader and he apparently was looked at as Optimus’ successor with pretty high regards but now…there wasn’t much to support his decision. He kind of wanted to just give it up to Arcee who was the second choice and probably would be a better leader anyway. 

Without Flareup, life just felt dull. She kept it interesting when there was nothing to do and since the war was long over, she kept him on his pedes just in case. Some bots told him that eventually he would have to move on as her loss was no different than the many other Autobots who passed under Megatron’s reign, but he just didn’t know if he could. She was a big part of his life and now she was gone like a piece of him died as well. 

His comm. link suddenly buzzed and he hesitated to answer but he found it rude not to. With a sigh, he mumbled, “Hello?”

_“Bumblebee, I’m sorry. I didn’t think about what I was doing and I-”_

“Go apologize to someone who cares and get the hell off my frequency.”

Bendy groaned, _“I want to make it up to you. I want to keep this friendship we have because you’re the only friend on the outside I have. I didn’t know what I had until I realized I had lost it. I’m not asking you to forgive me because I know you can’t and I can’t forgive myself either, but I don’t want to lose you as well. I’ve made terrible mistakes and I’m sure everyone has too including your father figure but has that ever stopped you from loving him?”_

Bee snarled, “Don’t bring Optimus into this! He made mistakes but at least none of them involved tearing a fellow Autobot I cared deeply for into pieces. At that point it’s not even a mistake, that’s an absolute-”

“-crime?”

The Autobot thought he heard the swooshing of ink forming behind him and the voice all but confirmed his theory. He let his digits slide off his audial array and slowly turned to face the ink monster, keeping seated with a dark expression. The ink demon walked forward, a neutral frown upon his white face. 

“I had thought as the good guy of my franchise I couldn’t commit crimes. I thought that no matter what I did, I was always justified. In the cartoon world, what you do isn’t always what it seems and there are little to no boundaries on what you can do. Only the censors allow certain things to be cut from film because they don’t wish to show it but doesn’t mean the deeds we do, the things we say just stop existing. What if behind the curtain, Mickey Mouse abused Pluto? Would the audience know? No, because all they see are a high tuned mouse and his trained pet.”

Bumblebee looked to the side, “This is reality, Bendy, it’s time you started acting like it was. You can’t murder people when you please, you can’t play deadly jokes and expected them to get back up after the blow, and you can’t believe you are the center of the spotlight anymore. You’re not the star.”

Something in Bendy growled at that last sentence. “Now hang on, at the studio-”

“Don’t you get it!?” The mech jumped up and yelled, “You aren’t doing these things because of revenge for your torment anymore, you doing them to be the center of attention! You lost your chance to be a star so you’re trying to win it back by doing things people will remember and doing things that you think you are immune to the consequences of! You and everyone else who heard the stories of the studio through Henry believed Alice was the stage hog but in reality, it’s you! You want to be on top again but you can’t handle the obstacles you didn’t have to deal with before! Here, I’m the protagonist of the Autobot base, of this _adventure!_ You are only a cameo!”

Bendy’s expression grew incredibly dark but then shifted suddenly to a calm, saddened demeanor. 

Bee shook his head, “The problem with you truly is you think everyone is the villain and you’re the hero. You think that everyone loves you when in fact everyone hates you for the scrap you pull. Henry doesn’t want anything to do with you. Why? Because you’ve chased him away and now has to live with the terror of how you turn everyone he’s ever known into monsters. I wanted to be your friend, I really did but I guess you certainly didn’t.”

“Bumblebee, I-”

“Forget it! I wish I had never met you! I wish Henry never drew you and I wish you never existed! Maybe then, everyone would be happy around here again!”

Immediate disbelief and grief flare across Bendy’s face, his pie-cut eyes gaining more slants than normal to portray his utter sorrow. “I…don’t want…to be the villain anymore.”

Bee scowled, “Then you have a lot to prove, don’t you? If you were ever my friend, you would leave and never bother me again. I don’t want you in my life as the monster you’ve become, assuming you ever were anything else.”

That was all it took for Bendy to turn away hurt and creep into the wall as Bumblebee kept his back facing the demon. He vanished and the yellow mech only slightly turned his attention to where he once stood.

“I hope you know I still somehow care for you, even after all you’ve done,” the Autobot whispered to himself.

 _“Bumblebee, do you copy?”_ Arcee’s voice suddenly rang up, scaring him.

He immediately answered his comm. link, “Yeah?”

_“There are ink creatures everywhere downtown and they are all swarming Henry!”_

“I’ll…I’ll be over as soon as I can!”

Arcee abruptly hesitated, _“From what the reports are saying, I think…”_

Bee frowned, “What’s wrong?”

 _“I think Henry was the one who called them here.”_  
\------------------------------

Henry Stein was not a typical man as everyone could agree but being surrounded by monsters was intimidatingly odd. 

The older human stared death in the face, and he wasn’t joking. Casey coiled profusely with a growl as other animals jumped and pranced around Henry. Sammy and the Projectionist stood by with no weapons drawn but still on edge, waiting patiently for Henry to do something. Even Baron Bacon had arrived among the other ink monsters which surprised Henry as he never expected that character to make a comeback having only appeared three cartoon segments before being dropped from the main role as kids didn’t like him. Now there was an entirely new reason why and it had to do with the new design the toon had that would scare anybody.

Several Autobots and humans gathered from a distance to see the toons restlessly moving around Henry. Bumblebee and Optimus quickly united with Arcee who was assessing the situation with her weapon drawn. They both looked at each other when they spotted Henry holding something.

“Is that one of the new communication cellular prototypes we were going to format for the human soldiers to prevent hacks?” Arcee questioned.

Bumblebee nodded, “Henry was the lead man on it. Guess he decided to use it ahead of schedule but on the wrong crowd.”

The two-wheeler muttered, “Well technically, he called them over. What for, I don’t know.”

The Camaro glanced downward in thought until a brief thought hit his processor and his optics widened. “Henry didn’t call them to say hello. He called them because he’s giving himself up! Henry!”

The human jolted his attention towards the mech and smiled half-heartedly. He then turned back to Casey who bared his teeth at his creator. He knew he wasn’t going to live much longer possibly so there was only one thing he could do. He would stand up to the cartoon characters that have plagued him since the 60’s.

“Is this any way to treat your Creator?”

The pet name threw the train off slightly before he chomped his jaws together angrily, diving towards Henry and stopping only two feet from the human. He tauntingly snapped his jaws three times right next to the small face as if to scare the poor guy.

Henry lifted his hand and gently placed it under Casey’s headlight nose. “Casey, baby boy. Oh, now...you know I never really abandoned you, right? Even when I left around the Great Depression, I drew you and Bendy and the others almost daily in any spare time I had. Did you know that? I never could get over my choice but I had to…I…I had to go home. I couldn’t stay forever at the studio but that never meant I didn’t stay with you in my heart, in my memories. We do have some good and some bad but I never forgot you, never really tried to.”

Casey’s bared black teeth were slowly covered by his lips as his eyes grew from antagonistic to heavily remorseful. He felt the human pet his surface with obvious care and he began to purr at the touch he starved. With various grunts of and growls of concern and comfort, his eyes softened as Henry gave a considerate grin.

“We had a lot of adventures in the story room, didn’t we sweetie? I couldn’t give you all of them but I tried, didn’t I?”

The snake-like toon let out a snort of approval, steam hissing from his chimney stack. Everyone else watched in horror and concern as Henry continued touching and calming the beast of an ink creature. The other animal toons bowed their heads slightly, some approaching him with curiosity and rejuvenated affection. 

He then looked towards Sammy, the music director who stood so firm. “Remember when I introduced you and Susie to a concept of Alice Angel and we all stood in the orchestra hall designing that little gimmick of Alice’s? Susie was an intern originally for a music opportunity and I helped design the character to fit more with her once I introduced Alice to Joey and presented the recorded tune with her voice.”

Sammy began to smirk as human-sized Alice walked up and grasped his inky hand with her gloved one, Susie holding her own flustered smile. He laughed, “It was like hearing an angel for the first time. One of the most revolutionary characters added to the Bendy franchise and it was undeniably beautiful.”

Susie nuzzled her forehead against his neck as she spoke, “It was like a dream come true and had it not been for Alice Angel…me…Sammy and I would’ve never connected the way we did in that room.”

The musician then held a neutral grimace. “Weren’t you still married to that asshole, Bartleby or whatever?”

“We were never married. He left me as soon as I found out I was pregnant. I was contacting him to try and be a part of my baby’s life. He never took it.”

“Ah,” Sammy huffed in slight relief.

The former cartoonist peered around at the many faces of the toons, monsters, and others who glanced back with similar kindness. “I have all done you wrong. I should have stopped Joey; I should have made things right. I was scared, a coward but now I see what I should do to make everything better at least as best I can.”

“You are coming home?” Bendy said out of the blue, frightening almost everyone in his sudden appearance.

Henry nodded reluctantly, “It’s time we put things to rest. It’s time to leave these people alone and go back to where we belong.”

Casey grew instantly defensive, his roof spikes rising as his dangerous expression returned at the notion. The other toon animals were taken aback by the reason of him surrendering. Bendy also became alarmed, snarling at the audacity that Henry was theoretically giving himself up just to save humans and Autobots. Everyone else had mixed reactions as well with some rearing back while others like the Sheep roared at him, their weapons ready for action.

“Casey!” The human barked, “I’ve always done what’s best for you, haven’t I? If this is why it is best, is that a bad call on my part? Is it, sweetheart?”

Bumblebee breathed erratically as he observed Casey mellow though still a bit ticked as Henry rubbed his nose again. Optimus didn’t dare move either. Something abnormal caught his optic and that was the one called Baron Bacon who didn’t really appear angry for the same reason as Casey. There was something off about that toon, he could feel it but he didn’t address this as he knew Henry’s safety was more important.

“I realized my mistake and now I’m offering to fix it, not just because I have to but because I am thinking of you, all of you! It’s not just about saving these people’s lives but also saving yours. We’re all going to die eventually; we have to go eventually so don’t you think ninety years has been long enough not just on citizen lives but on us? Do you not wish to go home?”

Bendy and the others dropped their wary behavior and listened to him. Several purrs and animalistic hums played through the inky crowd as they pondered his words. Boris made some canine-like whimpers, sniffing the air and panting towards Henry. Casey did a few confirming growls toned more like a raptor, pressing against Henry’s hand.

“Come on guys, let’s go home.”

The Searchers present crawled around Henry almost like a hive circles its queen as the various toon animals followed him. He began walking towards a pentagram that emerged from the nearest building’s side and rippled in anticipation as he drew closer. He could hear the whispers he remembered he used to endure in his nightmares where he would spawn from an ink tunnel into where his last nightmare left off. At that point, he knew they weren’t nightmares but memories. 

“Henry?” Bee called out, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

The human began to laugh, “Every second of my life has been leading up to this moment, Bumblebee. I don’t think fate had anything else planned for me. You managed to see what it was like in the beginning but now you finally will know how it ends. This is goodbye, Bee. We will not see you again.”

Arcee placed a servo on Bee’s arm in comfort as Henry gave him one last smile before walking into the pentagram which rumbled and quivered before settling. The other toons began jumping inside, one after the other. Sammy and Susie walked idly in each other’s embrace through while behind them Allison and Tom did the same. The Sheep bounced happily in and the Projectionist followed, limping a little. 

The last one to go through was Bendy and he sadly peered back at Bumblebee who didn’t meet his eyes. He grew disheartened and simply murmured, “Goodbye.”

Bumblebee didn’t even watch the pentagram vanish, holding his arms across his torso and closing his optics.  
\--------------------------

When Henry materialized from a wall into the main area of the new studio, he gasped at how spacious it was. Unlike his old stomping ground of a studio, this one had details from every section he recalled visiting on his journey. He actually smiled brightly for once at the still ink-tainted version of his home. There were some areas that were under construction because of the attack on Optimus’ orders but they had rebuilt rather fast.

He suddenly felt a slap on his back in a gesture of affection by Norman as he walked past, giving Henry a thumbs up and slinking towards a bench where a little girl that looked like a doll greeted him. It then clicked in his head who it was.

“Alexandra?”

The doll froze before a gleeful squeal erupted from his vocals. “Mr. Henry! It’s really you!”

He let the girl run into his arms and swung her around before she hugged him. He cackled, “Ally, I haven’t seen you since you were four. You’ve grown. How’s your daddy?”

Ally’s face drooped and Henry immediately regretted that when he had a good idea of the answer. “I lost Daddy after Mr. Drew made me go to sleep.”

Kneeling, he wiped away an ink tear. “I’m sorry. Your daddy was one of the bravest men I knew and I think he knows you are brave too having gone through what you have. He’s really proud of you.”

“Really?”

He nodded and held her close as Sammy approached. When Ally noticed him, she switched from Henry to the director and hugged his leg instead. The masked man then said, “It’s a long story.”

Alice was once again Transformer-sized and she stood with Bendy who was a lot more downtrodden then the human was used to seeing. He had to admit, Bendy not happy but also not angry made him feel even more unpredictable like he could snap at any given point. Not wanting to press his luck by questioning it, he ignored the demon’s unusual behavior.

“Henry?” Susie abruptly asked.

All eyes were on her as she glanced down at him. “Tomorrow, we will commence with the ritual and you will set us free as well as yourself. The Ink Machine will say when it is time. You can roam anywhere you wish to, visit us where we lie but please don’t leave the premises.”

Henry gave his acknowledgement and watched the various toons and creature settle into their natural habitats. The Sheep played with their guns as Beau was suddenly blew across the room by a rocket, the Searchers roamed the area while occasionally interacting with Butcher Gang members as well as the animals, and a now human-sized Boris began a wrestling match with Tom who made a cut throat gesture with his metal arm before both went at each other. The girls, Susie, Allison, and Ally, just shook their heads at the sight.

So tomorrow was his final day…perhaps, theirs definitely. A part of him kind of hoped they would stay, not to cause mass murder or anything like that but just because he figured their arrival to reality happened for a reason. He may have not enjoyed much of his immortal life stressed about how the Machine could bring such terrors to life but now that he knew what he was dealing with, it actually wasn’t that bad. Bendy still needed a bit of work on his ideals but he had his interesting moments. Henry believed for once Bendy had an actual personality and made the whole experience real, disturbingly real but real. It was unique.

He set off to explore the new studio, approaching the Bendy head over the central door at the back of the area. Oh, this was going to be fun.

Unknowing to most, Baron Bacon snarled. He stared at Henry with utter hatred and stormed off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After one week of lost Internet because of the electrical storm and the snow storm on top of that, I finally have the chance to post this. So, this is the end. This is how Henry dies...no not really. I would never do that to you guys. By the last sentence, Baron Bacon is going to have a much more prominent role than intended and I have another surprise awaiting too.


	11. Realization and Regret

He would have never guessed deciding something would be so hard. He sniffed, swiping a clawed finger against the point that made up his nose and letting a tear fall in a black streak down his cheek before also wiping at that. To say he was depressed was kind of an understatement now. He felt incomplete.

Leaving Bumblebee to hate him and him to fail to understand his flaws as a dark character was a rather stupid move. He could say he was drawn evil but reality wouldn’t accept that now, would it? He wanted to make things right. He had to.

“Don’t tell me you’ve actually developed feelings for that Autobot.”

His sad demeanor turned angry as he his head faced the side for him to partially see Baron Bacon in all his fat bastard-ness. Correction, an oddly ripped fat royal bastard highness. The gruff voice of the warthog was not a pleasant sound as well.

“Get the hell away from me, pork chop,” he fumed.

He heard the pig emit a baritone chuckle, “After all these years and you still think I’m the bad guy? Have you looked in a mirror lately?”

Bendy growled, “Your point?”

“Now that you have Henry, what do you plan on doing exactly?”

“Simple,” the demon scoffed. “This afternoon, the Machine will bind Henry completely to it which will bind him to me and the curse will be complete. What happens afterwards is we probably die and the Machine as well as the souls bound to it are freed. No more reality bullshit.”

“Don’t you think staying in this world is more beneficial? We can take whatever we want and rule the world with everyone knowing our names just as we wanted. And Henry could be by our side, watching us turn this place into our personal toon town. Doesn’t that sound grand?”

There was an edge in the swine’s voice he didn’t like but he couldn’t argue about staying. He actually did wish to stay deep down. Despite the restrictions, the world was fun to be in and new and exciting. The Autobots were something, especially Bumblebee and there was a lot to do. It was almost thrilling being in the same dimensional plane as Henry who was a great guy. The cartoon world may have no rules but the real world had the Creator, the inspiration that kept him going.

If Henry was put in the ritual, everyone would die and they would be nothing but ghosts. If Henry lived, they could be almost as free as possible. The Searchers despite being former employees have dealt with their pain and have adapted nicely. They don’t complain about not being human anymore. They just want to do something more than sitting around the studio. Susie and Sammy are content as long as they have each other. The Projectionist loved scenery and adores the real world’s phenomenal views. The list was endless. So what was truly bad about being alive? They were all immortal…together, including Henry. And Bumblebee was a Cybertronian and Cybertronians lived for millions of years!

A wide smile grew on Bendy’s face. “You’re right, this world is more beneficial. But I don’t want the world.”

“Yes, see and…!” The Baron froze before his expression turned dull, “What do you mean?”

“I couldn’t give two shits about the world! I don’t need them to be happy; I only need Henry and Bumblebee! I might be the most terrible friend Bee ever had but I am the best enemy he’s ever dealt with, the one he respected and liked! I am a bad person deep down but that doesn’t make me a bad guy overall and Bumblebee knew this! I learned from my mistakes and I know not to make them again but that doesn’t mean I have to change who I am entirely in this universe because Bumblebee cares about me…no matter what I’ve done. Deep down, I am not a hero. I am Bendy, the agent of chaos, and I am loved by the people that matter. Fuck the world, I don’t need their approval and I don’t need to be a star,” Bendy happily remarked.

Baron Bacon stared at him awkwardly before shaking his head, “Wha-I think you lost your point somewhere in that speech. You’re just giving up on everything you were made to believe? You are a cartoon character; you are supposed to be spectated by all and appreciated. You are meant to be worshipped by all ages. You are a god in this universe as are the rest of us!”

The ink demon peered back with his signature smile, “No, I’m not. I’m just a character with a role. My role is to be a friend, to be a companion, and to be a leader. Nothing more. It’s time I started acting like it. I thought I was before but I let my greed and pride get in the way thinking I knew what was best. I may be built with the seven sins integrated into my mind but that doesn’t mean I can’t do more than what I was created with.”

He ran past the Baron who angrily shouted his name and into the main room, sliding down the railing of the large stairs as he converted to a human size. Searchers and toons alike were heavily confused including Henry who wore a suit akin to what he appeared in when he visited the studio sixty years ago. Bendy didn’t stop until he ran smack into his Creator with a bear hug. This almost knocked Henry down as the man gave out a yelp from the force but slowly returned it in confusion.

The ink demon then clasped his shoulders and looked straight into his eyes with a very unnatural sincere smile. “If you don’t want to leave this world, I’m not going to force you to die for us. In fact, if you want to leave this studio and make a new career as an artist with another company or go back to being a manager, do it! I’m not going to hold you back anymore.”

Henry frowned for a second, “What do you mean?’

“You’re free. The exit is just up that mine shaft or up through the sky lights, either one. I’m not going to stop you this time.”

Alice and Sammy glanced oddly at each other before Sammy intervened, “My lord?”

The others gathered around Bendy as he laughed, “Who needs death? Who needs sadness? We may have not had a happy beginning ninety years ago and I know many of us don’t belong here but…I’ve kind of grown to like this world and I’ve noticed you all have too. A lot of you were once human and now you are anything but however, you have made the best of this situation to where you’ve no longer cared what people thought, what Henry thought. You made your own world here.

“I realized the only reason it has been miserable here is because of me. I’ve held you back all these years until the only thing that mattered was breaking the curse. But what would happen if we do break it? Henry won’t be with us because in death, I’m kind of doubtful people reunite the same way we assume. And the rest of us? We’re cartoon characters; nothing exists outside of a reel and we won’t be sentient anymore. Then there’s the ‘what we are missing’ portion of us leaving. Sure, our beginning was terrible but now we’ve been given another chance and I’m not going to hold you back from seeing the world, going places you’ve never gone before. I can’t revive lost family members but I can offer you a new family. 

“We are a family with important roles, each and every one of us. We are all immortal so we’ll all be together, grow wiser together, and live together. The rules of reality might not be fun but we can remedy that with the new experiences we make, if we are willing to make them. I’ve only seen the downside of living but never the upside until now and I want to live, explore, become a part of this world. Don’t you?”

The crew talked amongst one another in utter chaos debating whether it was worth the cost. Bendy felt his heart sink a little when Casey and a few others scowled at the idea.

“You know,” Allison began, “I always wanted to visit Paris and go hiking across amazing geographical locations. I had planned to use the money I earned from my small role as Alice to help fund my adventures but I never got the chance.”

Everyone grew silent as they looked at her before some peered downward in thought. Then the Sheep started to sound off. All of them except Henry understood them, which made the cartoonist glance back and forth from them awkwardly. 

Bendy translated, “Bellwether said she wants to own a gun shop in New York to help fund the gangs and mafia which I guess is technically a community service? Beau said she was hoping to be a librarian and or a valued researcher for a high end organization so she can spend her time among her favorite hobby. And Bernard has always wanted to direct his own movie as well as go around the world documenting various animals, maybe even discovering new ones.”

Casey muttered animalistic noises with occasional grunts and Bendy gave a blinking misunderstanding of a look.

Henry pointed ever so slightly and asked, “What did she say?”

“She…uh…she wants to eat one vehicle from every country and wants to use every known train track so she can ‘fast travel’…which I don’t think she knows what that means as she’s explaining this to me. Um…pretty much her ambitions are to tour the world and eat things from every country,” Bendy huffed.

Several Searchers roared and gurgled, some apparently wishing to visit locations like the beach while others wanted to ride roller coasters, play soccer, and so on. Bendy glanced around in awe as more of them shouted their desires, realizing they all had something they wanted to live to see and to do. 

“I want to be a cosmetics dresser, maybe even go back to acting again!”

“I would love to write music again and collaborate with maybe Hans Zimmer one day.”

“I want to get legally married to my Allison!”

“I want to own the world’s largest doll shop!”

Henry found a smile grow on his features before he turned to Bendy. He calmly spoke, “And I want to go back designing worlds, characters, and backgrounds. I want to be a cartoonist again. If not that, then maybe a painter or a sculptor or…”

“…A writer? A graphics artist? A concept artist?” Bendy laughed. “You could do all of them because I know you can and now you have a lifetime to explore what you wish to do at the pace you like and if it gets boring, you can change your field. And I’ll be here supporting you. And if you fall into hard times, you always have a place to stay here.”

The ink demon placed his gloved hand beneath Henry’s chin in a comforting manner, looking fondly at his Creator. He coughed, “Although, I’m probably going to be stealing you back after a while. Just a heads up.”

The human groaned, “Really? I’m going to be out there making a living finally and you plan on disrupting that?”

“Hey, I was created bad, what can I say? Just think of it more like…a game. If I win, you get to spend your imposed vacation here. If you win, you can go on your merry way and enjoy the outside world for whatever reason, but I’ll come back to get you after about a week or two.”

“Thanks,” the man said flatly. “What happened to being no longer greedy?”

Bendy shrugged, “I’m a cartoon, and the sins can’t exactly be thrown out the door in my case. It’s a day to day mood set.”

“Asshole,” Henry shook his head with a sneer.

“You love me for it.”  
\--------------------------

Baron Bacon had watched the toons and ink creatures celebrate their newfound motives to live and it disgusted him. He didn’t want to live just so he could be among flesh and bone dumbasses who somehow managed to dominate the world they didn’t deserve. He wanted to be worshipped as a toon should for their god-like abilities. Who needs to live in harmony when he could be on top with everyone at his hooves?

He stomped into the Ink Machine’s chamber, ignoring the animals that now roamed about. They didn’t really acknowledge his lumbering presence as he bowed in front of who he considered his _real_ Creator. To hell with Henry who was nothing but a glorified fraud. 

“It seems Bendy has decided to retract from the ritual. He apparently thinks he has more to live for as does Henry Stein and the others. I guess that means you won’t be free as planned.”

_Do not patronize us! We find Bendy’s change of heart upsetting but we cannot enforce the ritual of none of them are willing to do it. As much as we wish to leave, our needs do not exceed the masses’._

The Baron side smirked, “What if I could change their minds, motivate them that Earth isn’t fun at all?”

_How could you possibly do that? They know the planet has many challenges, many locations and activities. With the Transformers, they have more than just Earth they can rely upon for a journey or two._

“Fair enough but I live to serve you. If you wish to be free, sometimes the masses need to be reminded who has the power here. Of course, I would need a bit of extra help to make this happen…if you are willing to create a few more toons. I assure you, I will have them take back the enthusiasm of the others in no time and you’ll be free at last,” he hissed, entwining his pig-clawed hands behind his back casually.

The Machine hummed in thought. _We suppose we could let you make an effort at persuasion, but do not tempt battles you cannot win. It will be your downfall if you try._

The screens to his left lit up and files of the list of characters were opened. Scrolling through them, the icons barely had time to render completely before they were shoved away until the picture of a cartoon train was selected. Baron Bacon’s smile grew as the Machine turned its creative capabilities on. The ink began to pump into its rendering chamber and it gave a hoarse groan.

_And Baron, do not use our gifts to you in vain. Above all, Henry must not suffer through this ordeal._

When the file of the train downloaded, the inking process began. Pistons thundered as they worked over time to produce the soon-to-be large toon and the pentagram grew bright with absolute power.

Baron Bacon only nodded. “I promise, everything will go according to plan and Henry will not suffer…one…bit.”

His smile only grew as a shadow began to dwarf him. An angry roar darker than Casey’s rumbled throughout the room as the creature formed its engine face and started to work on stabilizing its next car. As it was being created, the screen nominated a couple more toons and worked on downloading the specs alongside its translation process.  
\------------------------------

Bendy activated the ground bridge after punching in the coordinates and noted the swirling colors before bringing his attention to his human. 

Henry scoffed, “So I guess this is goodbye for the time being.”

He clasped his hands together nervously. “I didn’t think I would ever be thrilled to do anything like pursuing art ever again…being stuck in a never ending life of nightmares associated with it in the past. But you are right. There’s so much more to do and a part of me actually feels relieved that I got to know you and understand what you are based off of compared to me. They say every creation has a piece of its creator in some way and the reason I wasn’t faring well with your existence is probably because I didn’t accept where you came from. You are a part of me and I’m a part of you. I see that now.”

The ink demon clicked his tongue, “If I recall, there’s also a saying ‘you are your own worst enemy’ and I guess in our situation, it’s pretty much true.”

“You’re going to be okay with letting me go, right?”

“I’ll…I’ll manage,” Bendy frowned. “This is one hell of a blow to my ego, I’ll tell you that. Like, my confidence level plummeted a bit but nothing I can’t fix.”

The human narrowed his eyes, “No killing people. That’s not good mentally.”

“Spoilsport.”

Henry smiled and entered the vortex, leaving Bendy to contemplate what to do next. It was an odd change of heart for him but it felt pretty good to do something right for once. He chuckled lightly to himself and whipped out his mallet, twirling it skillfully on his fingertips and began to hum Alice’s lullaby from _Siren Serenade._

He was a demon of many things but he kept his promises in the end.   
\------------------------

Bumblebee peered over a few data pads before logging their contents into the system. He tried to focus only on them but in the back of his mind, a dark edge lingered. He wasn’t too pleased about his job currently since he felt he had more important things to do. But Flareup used to be the archivist and data clerk so until she was replaced formally, there wasn’t much he could say. It hurt that he was assigned her job, a cruel reminder that she was gone but Optimus was the only other archivist on site and he was busy sorting out affairs. Bumblebee had been trained by him, under the radar originally but he knew what to do.

He heard the doors open to his left but he didn’t take his optics off the data for one moment, trying to log in as much as he could in a short time so he didn’t have to spend all night doing it. 

Knockout frowned at seeing the Autobot struggling to take on Flareup’s shift. “You know, I have some experience with archives. I could take over for you so you don’t have to go through this.”

“Thanks Knockout but I was specifically assigned to this job because I know enough to get past the difficult parts faster. It doesn’t matter whether this was Flareup’s shift. It needs to be done,” Bumblebee scowled, slamming his fist down.

“How are you…coping?”

He shook his head lightly, “I’m stable enough to do my work but this assignment is just jarring too many memories. I feel like I’m about to crack and no one except Optimus will care.”

The Aston Martin suddenly snarled, “You know that’s not true! Arcee cares, Bulkhead cares, and I…care.”

His voice died at that last part as he placed a hand over his chest cavity before removing it to gently grasp Bumblebee’s shoulder. “You think you’re alone but there are many that are here for you. Hey, do you know what I did when Breakdown died?”

Bee used a sorrowful brow and slowly peered at the red mech. “What?”

“When he passed, I was devastated. I had no idea what to do or who I could look up to at that point. For weeks, everything felt terrible. But after the fourth week, I realized that Breakdown wouldn’t want me to stay miserable because he wasn’t there. He wouldn’t want me to live the rest of my Primus knows how long lifespan mourning his corpse. It hurt when he was mentioned but over time, it became clear there was still more to do. Life wasn’t just about us, it was about living. I may not have had my partner but I had a life regardless. So I started doing what I thought would make me happy, not us but me and I found that it did help bring back my confidence, my will to move on. Don’t get me wrong, everyone once in a while I think of him but I learned to repress him enough so he doesn’t consume me until I offline. I may find another partner and they probably won’t create the same harmony as what we had together but at least, I’ll have someone new and new adventures with that someone.”

The yellow Camaro’s wings rose up a bit, “So you’re saying that I can’t be happy as long as I stay in the shadow of the past?”

Knockout made a so-so gesture, “I-It’s more you should remember her but honor her by doing what you think she would want. What do you think she would want for you right now?”

“To move on. She always used to tell me anger never got anything done. It prolonged happiness and life was about happiness. I’ve grown mad at Bendy but now it’s doing nothing but hurting me. The casualties of war happen and there’s nothing we can do about it. We just have to endure and keep moving forward. You’re right. I won’t forget her but she’s gone and there’s nothing I can do about it. Bendy only did what he felt was right and no doubt regrets as he told me a few days ago. How long can I really stay mad at him? We’ve all made mistakes that ended horribly and I remember mine was my brother, Wasp. He hated me for the longest time because of his mutation body shift into an Insecticon but now, he loves me because we settled what we did wrong and admitted our faults that led to his curse.”

The former-Decepticon had a sparkle in his red optics, “But with Bendy…?”

Bee smiled, “Both of us were wrong too. I also contributed in some way. My anger was misplaced because I myself was too arrogant to see what led to Flareup’s death. I thought Bendy would hurt Henry and I wasn’t soaking in the truth that he really didn’t want to. I shouldn’t have snapped at him. We are friends. I just didn’t see it because of the rage I felt. It’s becoming clear now. My life is a mess but it’s mine and Flareup knew as well as I that Bendy would be a part of it as soon as we found him. She would want me to live it as is, not stay mad because of a mistake. I still have a lot of crazy adventures to go on…and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Knockout smirked, “Welcome back, Bumblebee.”  
\------------------------------

It had been an hour since he released Henry and Bendy had never felt better. It was an abnormal kindness that would take a lot of getting used to but it actually soothed him being nice. There were still quirks of mischief and maliciousness in his core but if he could find a way to channel it elsewhere, who knew what he could do. He wasn’t bad, just drawn that way. Smiling, he entered the main area with utmost confidence until he heard a muffled cry and he froze. 

Alice and the girls were entrapped in the coils of an octopus he recognized as Octo-Perry, a background sea monster that lurked on the Butcher Gang introductory special. He was supposed to be a one-off character for dramatizing the Butcher Gang’s ship entrance but here he was. Beside him, the Sheep were cornered by large anthropomorphic ragged wolves from _Sheep Songs_ , also background characters meant to demonize wolves with the exception of Boris who only wanted to play his clarinet.

Casey was struggling to keep Caesar from winning their supposed wrestling match. Both trains wrapped heavily around each other in a death grip. Caesar cackled dangerously as she pushed her younger brother to the floor, pinning the roaring snake-like creature happily and using her colossal body to keep him stuck. Her ugly, ridged face smirked with crooked sharp teeth as she narrowed her eyes. Tom, Sammy, Joey, and the Projectionist were restrained by piglets, Baron Bacon’s henchmen while Boris was pinned by the large ham himself. And in the warthog’s greasy hand, Henry groaned and rustled in an attempt to break free from his grip.

“Ah, Bendy, so glad you could join us,” the Baron purred.

Bendy’s face twisted in anguish, “Let them go!”

The pig snorted, “I’m afraid we can’t do that. You see, you and your friends have been in control far too long and look what you’ve accomplished. Nothing! It’s time for someone stronger to take control and I’m nominating myself. And don’t worry, dear Henry will be given a front row seat to the show as I take this world and turn it into the Toon Town we deserve to rule. Of course, there won’t be any humans allowed so once the credits role, Henry will be killed humanly and quickly just for you.”

“No! This isn’t right! Earth isn’t ours to take; it’s ours to call home among humans, among Henry! He’s your Creator! You can’t kill him!”

Baron Bacon waved a finger, “He’s part of the problem, what makes you WEAK! HE’S MADE US ALL WEAK AND NOW, I’M GOING TO SET US FREE ONCE AND FOR ALL AND FINISH WHAT YOU COULDN’T!”

The ink demon’s face began to melt as he angrily shouted, “I’LL KILL YOU! I’LL-”

Henry gave a hoarse cry as he felt Baron’s clawed fingers began to squeeze as the warthog laughed, “Ah, ah, ah! We wouldn’t want an accident to happen so early now, would we?”

His face reformed as he expressed horror. Bendy slowly but surely lowered his stance and bowed his head in defeat.

“Good demon. We have a lot of work to do. And if you disobey me, I’ll crush Henry and every other little pest on this planet, including your Autobot’s pet boy! Bumblebee will die too! I’ll see to it his corpse hangs on my wall as my personal souvenir!”

The only thing Bendy could do was peer up afraid for his family, for Henry, and now for Bumblebee. He had lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Baron Bacon's the bad guy in this story. I had to give it to him because he was an evil bitch in development so I figured I would keep that personality just for the hell of it. Who's the real monster now? Also I made Bendy's realization as cheesy as possible because I'm pretty sure it would sound just like that. Have you ever heard a cartoon character have an epiphany? It always sounds fake or loses its point midway. It's hilarious!


	12. Return to the Workshop

**Bendy and co’s bios are located on my DeviantArt**  
\----------------------------------

“Bumblebee, we’re receiving a request from an unknown source asking to speak with you via open channel. The message attached says it’s urgent,” Blurr anxiously announced. “You don’t think that could be-?”

“It is. Grant access and allow visual feed if possible,” Bee answered.

The screen lit up with the studio walls spotted with ink in the background but the foremost presence was not who he expected. In fact, he didn’t know the presence currently could use a chat service but at this point, nothing really surprised him too much.

The yellow Autobot’s brows furrowed in confusion, “Is that the Ink Machine?”

 _Bumblebee! We need you to come to the studio immediately!_ The voice somehow managed to sound like it was in the same room as the mechs which scared both of them and a few others present in the warehouse.

“Wha-why do you need me? You have plenty of toons; you can create more to help you, right?”

_Please, we have made a grave mistake and we fear we cannot fix it! The Creator is in mortal danger as is Bendy and we cannot save them in our state of being! We were fools and in our arrogance, we helped the Baron believing he would set us free once Bendy decided to let Henry leave and live his life without our consent. We were too blind to see Bendy was right and that our curse was not a burden. He was going to set things right but with the monsters we have unleashed to take control, Bendy is overwhelmed and we need your assistance to take back our home!_

Blurr coughed, “Damn, too bad so sad. Whelp nothing we can do! See ya!”

“No wait,” Bumblebee pressed, giving the speedster an upset look. “Machine, you created them, gave them life. Can’t you take their lives back if you desired to?”

_We do not have the capabilities. The Allspark granted us the power to bring life but the shard was only strong enough for that purpose. We planned on breaking the curse with the Creator by sacrifice which would break the bond but we never got there and that would have taken up all our remaining power. In order to take the lives of toons individually, we would need another shard to help secure it. Otherwise, we are only designed to create, not take. Once we have the ability to kill, we will need to be in close proximity to the toons to take their souls from their bodies and destroy them._

Bee ran a servo over his head, “Okay, alright…um…what exactly did you create? And who’s this Baron guy?”

_Baron Bacon is a toon that was mortal enemies with Bendy. We revived him after you sent those forces to try and demolish us. We thought he would work alongside Bendy and help all of us be freed but instead, he has taken over with background characters drawn bad for specific cartoons. Casey’s sibling, Caesar, the Timberwolves, and the sea dweller known as Octo-Perry are working alongside the Baron and have trapped the others in the studio, planning to overrun the Earth using the Allspark’s power. They will turn your world into a ‘Toon Town,’ so to speak._

“By Primus, why would you create-never mind, I promise I’ll stop them. You have my word,” the Autobot bowed quickly.

Blurr shook his head and muttered, “You don’t have mine.”

He felt a slap on the back of his neck and grimaced as Bee continued, “I need to talk with Optimus first in order to figure out a way to get them to you. Okay?”

_Please hurry! Henry’s life is at stake!_

The screen went black and Lennox, who was standing over by a few ammo crates, whistled dramatically. “Well shit, this is going to suck ass. I don’t want to be a toon. What would I even look like?”

Epps snickered, “A hundred bucks says you’re either a donkey or one ugly ass dragon!”

“I will shoot you.”

“Is there any currency in the cartoon world?” Blurr added thoughtfully.

Bee groaned at the three, “Guys, this is serious! Henry’s in trouble and so is Bendy. If we don’t do something, we’re all going to die and they will too.”

Optimus walked up staring at the now dead screen before glancing down at Bumblebee with neutral optics. “Bendy cannot die, remember? But if this Baron is anything like Megatron was, I fear Bendy will be tortured for eternity as will his friends. We cannot allow such cruelty to happen again, even if Bendy has proven to be a deadly sociopath. He can be a potential asset though. His crimes are noteworthy but if the Machine speaks the truth that Bendy changed his mind and set Henry free, he may just be redeemable enough to save just as Megatron has.”  
\--------------------------

Casey felt his cheek brushed against by his sibling who purred devilishly. The toon-proof collar and chains Baron somehow managed to construct practically restrained him to the floor, allowing his older brother to curl and taunt around him. The larger train paid no mind to Casey’s displeasure at his advances and continued to play with his helpless sibling.

Henry was sitting in a cage hanging just beside the throne like a pet bird. He frowned always towards the Baron but gave a smile towards his equally caught creation, Bendy who was allowed to stand but his arms were forced by cuffs to be pulled downward towards the ground. This limited his range of actions as one restraint was around his waist and halted his ability to turn his abdomen in a similar manner while his collar had four sets of cables shooting in different directions to keep him as controlled as possible.

Boris and Tom were instructed to keep the ink flow pumping with no leaks and were heavily monitored by Octo-Perry and Joey was confined his office, prevented from teleporting through walls by the collar he wore like the others. The Sheep were chained to the roller coaster throne now littered with torn apart cutouts at its base, all Bendy’s. Their restraints were attached to a small track which allowed them to roam around the throne but only a few feet away, very restricting since that was only a few steps to them. The Timberwolves circled, awaiting one of them to try and break free so they could be attacked as their master commanded. They only smiled toothily when Bellwether attached her hooved hands together to form a five-fingered one just so she could flip them off. 

“Oh now don’t be like that, Bellwether,” Baron smirked from his throne nastily. “They are only trying to keep you herded because I don’t need my Sheep running away now, do I?”

Bernard stuck out his tongue and clambered with pride on all fours around the back of the throne while Beau just sat at the base, one hand on her chin and the other tapping her knee in boredom. Bellwether just growled and walked away. 

“Sammy, Norman, bring me the girls please.”

The musician furiously balled his fist but the Projectionist caught his hand and shook his camera to gesture “no.” Hesitantly, he followed his dear friend back and summoned Alice and Allison. Thankfully, Ally wasn’t a part of the group because even Baron wouldn’t cross THAT line. She, instead, was assigned to make merchandise based off the new set of toons as well as Baron Bacon himself which Sammy knew she probably wasn’t very happy about. Despite not being approving of child relationships, the Baron didn’t seem to be doing anything about Caesar’s rather uncouth obsession over Casey.

Alice was stuck in her Cybertronian size due to the collar because Baron Bacon refused to shift into a smaller form, liking the larger body, so he figured those who were altered had to stay that way. Allison was scowling but she gave a soft frown of sadness when the Projectionist rubbed her shoulder in comfort, knowing they were both fearful.  

Baron Bacon placed a hand under Alice’s chin and rumbled, “Have you been behaving, my angels? Several Searchers have reported to me you’ve been naughty girls, attempting to steal the Timberwolves’ lives for unknown purposes.”

Susie frowned and turned her head to a group of Searchers who were also collared. “I’m coming for you, assholes!”

They shrink in their place, some fleeing as the Baron addressed her. “My dear, there’s no need for vulgari-”

“I’ll show you vulgarity in three seconds and I’ll make you choke to death on it too! I gave birth once, you pig! Don’t fuck with me!” 

Allison remained quiet for she knew Susie could handle him on her own. She knew better to mess with the woman when she was like this. Those devil horns weren’t for nothing, and Sammy fell in love with her because of this. Speaking of whom, it didn’t escape her notice how large a grin Sammy was supporting now.

Apparently, that was enough to make the Baron back off and not press the issue further. He did like a feisty woman but damn, she probably could kick his ass in a one on one fight. His shock and shame turned into anger when he heard a familiar laugh he had despised for so long.

“Did you really think they would submit to you?”

The Baron growled as Bendy lifted his arms against the chains while he stood proudly. The ink demon continued to howl at his enemy’s depleting control. “They obey me because I am their leader, not you! I am the main character, the primary act, and the first toon created. No matter what you do, you’ll always be second best!”

Roaring inhumanely, Baron Bacon swiftly stomped towards Bendy from his throne and grabbed the demon’s neck. He squeezed enough to make Bendy wince but the latter didn’t seem that fazed otherwise, only glaring in return with maximum eye contact. 

“I am in control here, you little devil! And I intend on keeping it that way. The Machine can’t help you so why are you still persistent in being a bitch? You have no one, you are no one and I will make the world forget you even existed! So keep pushing me, I dare you because my claws are aching to slit your damn throat!”

The ink demon forced a strained smile despite the contractions on his face from the grip on his neck. “Won’t…do you much good. I’m immortal, remember?”

The Baron scowled, “We’ll see. I will gladly test that theory soon.”

Shoving Bendy back to release his hold, he retreated to the throne and drew an arm around an angry Alice to keep her close. Allison was forced to sit on his armrest as he used his free hand to surround her protectively. He ignored the protests of the Butcher Gang in the foreground growling and swatting at some of the approaching Timberwolves and breathed in heavily.

“It’s time to face reality, Bendy; I am this studio’s past, present, and future. Here, there is no happily ever after for you.”  
\----------------------------------

“I can’t believe we’re doing this. We’re going to die, dude!” Rodimus huffed.

Blurr growled, “If you jinx this, I will be kicking your ass through the Well of Allsparks and back for all eternity! So Bumblebee, what’s the game plan?”

The yellow mech held up a glowing shard, acknowledging silently the small whispers emitting from it. He frowned, “We break into the studio and get the Allspark casing piece to the Ink Machine then we lure pig-face near it so it can destroy him. From what I was able to research on the old Bendy cartoons, Baron Bacon was a nasty character to deal with. Creating him into a more real entity was indeed a mistake. It’ll only be a matter of minutes before he figures out were in the studio so we have to act fast, and if need be we’ll cause simultaneous distractions to confuse any enemies we encounter. That should buy us enough time with minimal complications.”

“Where did Optimus go?” The Velocitronian suddenly quipped.

Rodimus was the first to answer, “He said he’s going to prepare the ground bridge to send any help if we get into trouble or if we need to be transferred out quickly. Arcee and Bulkhead are with him. He’ll aid us when the time is right but hopefully, everything goes according to plan.”

Blurr laughed, “Since when has dealing with supernatural cartoon characters ever gone to plan?”

“Valid point,” the hot rod hummed.

They approached the underground studio entrance and slowed to a creeping pace down the railroad shaft of Casey’s. The deeper they went, the more unusual noises they began to hear especially for Bumblebee who had already spent enough time down in the studio to know what lied within. When they reached the opening to the main area where the Heavenly Toys logo shined bright, they hid behind several slabs of wood that formed a crooked fence and stared in awe at the predicament.

Wolf-like toons with jagged fangs patrolled the ground level and they didn’t look too friendly. To the left, the doors with the cutout heads of Bendy, Alice, and Boris were defaced with Alice’s “She’s Quite a Gal” sign missing that middle parts. Bendy’s was worse for wear as the cutout was literally embedded in the floor boards having been knocked from its perch above. A graffiti warthog picture instead took its place which Bee could only assume was Baron Bacon’s visage. 

All three doors were closed off but surprising to the right, the access vault to the Ink Machine was heavily damaged off its hinges. The pipes were still pulsing so the Machine was still active. Clutching the shard in his palm angrily, Bumblebee narrowed his optics.

“How are we going to get those wolves distracted?”

Blurr shrugged, “I mean unless you can outrun a wolf, which from what I understand is very difficult, your distractions won’t do much but make them work for their meal.”

Both of the other Autobots glanced at the speedster in unison smirking. Blurr was staring down at one wolf where he caught a glimpse of their expressions in the corner of his optic and frowned suspiciously, “What?”

“I hate you guys,” Blurr spoke moments later as he was pushed in the direction of the ramp down to the Timberwolves. 

“You’re the fastest out of all of us. You get to lead them in a chase while Rodimus and I sneak in.”

The blue mech made a two digit gesture from his optics to Bee and remarked, “If I die, I am so haunting your ass!”

Bumblebee ignored the threat and waved him off as he slowly climbed down the side of the rock formation holding the tracks. Thankfully, there was a large wooden fence halfway down and he managed to cover himself but Rodimus slipped a little in his decent, rock breaking loose as he slid just right on top of the other. When he stopped, he noticed he too was below the sight level of the Timberwolves but he heard Bumblebee growling below to get off. However, some rock broke on the floor and through a small crevice in the fence, Rodimus could see several wolves perk up towards their direction.

“Aw scrap, they’re onto us!” He harshly whispered to Bee who was trying to hold the both of them steady now.

“You think!?”

One Timberwolf sniffed and snarled, pacing itself to the fence. As it neared, its teeth were revealed and much more defined with ink drooling from its curling lips. Just as it was so close to touching the fence, it jerked its head upward in surprise as a rock hit its head from its right. Sitting on the rafters next to the toy sign, Blurr swung one leg off the edge and smirked.

“Well, didn’t know Bendy had puppies?”

All the Timberwolves present snapped their jaws and focused primarily on Blurr as he jumped down. The speedster managed to peer around to see how many wolves he was dealing with before giving a deadly grin and jolting to the other side of the room in one second. The beasts gave slight whimpers of confusion in unison deducting what they had just witnessed before shaking their heads and running after the mech. Blurr brushed them off casually, sidestepping a few with little to no effort as they crashed into boards and rock. Some chased him and he taunting ran backwards to see them galloping to keep up with his abnormal speed.

“What’s the matter, doggies? Can’t catch me? What a surprise!”

In circles, left, right, intersecting and so on the wolves pursued but none could stop him.

“Really, guys, now this is just getting sad. I thought you were wolves not show dogs.” 

One wolf barked maliciously at the comment. While Blurr kept them occupied, some even showing signs of fatigue, Bee and Rodimus climbed the fence that hid them and silently ran into the semi-open entrance to the Machine’s labyrinth. Since the doors were still blockading the entrance enough to where there were only certain areas of visibility, the Timberwolves probably wouldn’t know they were in there.

Bumblebee panting a little but frowned when he saw the labyrinth was in pieces. It wasn’t really a labyrinth anymore, it was just shredded wood barely attached in twisted rows from the attack Optimus approved of on the studio a while back. He could see available exits of the maze through various holes and one path he noticed linked to tile flooring and office complexes. Those must have been hidden as well but the Ink Machine only seemed to control its entrance, not the offices’. 

Trending through the ink up to his calves, he stepped onto the tile floor with Rodimus in tow and had to hunker down slightly as the ceiling seemed to be meant for smaller beings which he could guess were humans and now the unaltered monsters. He peered through some of the windows and frowned at how ridiculously small some of the offices were until one office at the very end caught his attention. Since he knew they weren’t far from the original studio above ground, he knew by instinct these offices had to have been here long before Bendy’s relocation which meant this must have been where Joey’s administration offices lied prior. The office at the end read a familiar name bolded and signed above like an advertisement: Joey Drew. 

“Bumblebee, shouldn’t we be finding the Ink Machine first? We don’t have time for this!”

Bee only glanced a little to his side but continued forward towards the office until a shadow passed by it. He froze at that point, so did Rodimus but then they both saw the shadow limp past the window slower and the horns identified the culprit. Immediately, Bee rushed forward and carefully turned the handle but found it locked. Frustrated and impatient, he kept trying until the entire lock and handle system broke and a hole was now present in the door as it inched open with an audible creak.

On the other side with a permanent grin on his face, Joey Drew moved his head to follow the broken door’s movement before staring at Bumblebee with what the latter assumed was not a pleased thought processing of the situation. 

“I’m so sorry. I’ll pay for another one,” Bee winced sincerely.

“Bendy” Joey shook his head and pointed to the collar on his neck with a distasteful growl.

Rodimus spoke unnerved, “Wow, talk about your ultimate dystopian dictatorship. Could you imagine what binds he got for Alice and-OW!”

Bee elbowed his waist, smirking at the grunts and turned back to the ever-disapproving Joey. “What do those collars do?”

Joey held up his gloved fist and made a bodybuilder pose with the arm containing the gloved hand but both mechs only stared at him bewildered. Moving his head downward in defeat, he quickly scoped his office and waddled to his chair before opening a drawer with a pencil and notebook. With surprisingly delicate writing, he held up the finished product and Bee didn’t know what to think of it.

“ _‘The collars prevent us from using our abilities like teleportation, strength, and other skills. I am too weak to take it off. Please help me.’_ That sounds rough, buddy. You might not be able to but I can…if you trust me enough, Joey,” Bumblebee mused.

Nodding, the ink demon impersonator felt the collar break and fall to the ground in pieces after Bee had handled it. Rubbing his neck, the former human gave a groan of happiness, at least the Autobots hoped it was, but then backed away like he had been hurt. This made the bots confused even further when Joey sprinted into the wall almost scared.

“What the h-” Rodimus was suddenly cut off when a tentacle wrapped around his leg and dragged him quickly back on the floor. He yelped when he was lifted upside down to meet the bulbous pie-shaped eye of a monstrous octopus. 

“No!” Bumblebee growled, charging as quickly as he could towards the abomination. Leaping at it, he managed to break the far office wall with his momentum and all three found themselves in the toon animal keep where elephants, tigers, and bears roared angrily at the disturbance. Many fled in terror at the abrupt noise while others kept their distance but were ready to strike if the danger drew too close.

Octo-Perry regained her balance and dragged herself towards the Autobot angrily while keeping Rodimus tied by one of her appendages. Slamming him down to provoke Bee, she gave a watery giggle with his cry of pain as her deadly eyes refused to lose sight of her new target glaring at her at the opposite end of the room. She then launched a tentacle at Bumblebee but he leapt up a few times before rolling under one trying to hit his helm than moving to the right to dodge one cracking the floor to his left in an attempt to flatten him.

The white ring patterns above both her eyes acted almost like eyebrows, plummeting downward as she started to get heavily annoyed by his persistence. Sending another tendril at Bumblebee, she failed to realize he drew his gun and began shooting the appendage. She reeled her limb back when one of the blasts severed its tip, letting Rodimus go.

The dark orange and flame designed mech shuffled to his pedes and jumped onto Octo-Perry, emerging his bow and arrow before landing a point blank explosive shot against her temple. He avoided the blast but the octopus whined and slathered her tentacles protectively over the inflicted area covering half her head.

Rodimus cackled, “Bumblebee! I suggest you get to the Ink Machine before this thing gets us!”

Bee only huffed and ran past some of the tentacles curling and sliding on the floor trying to catch anything in the way of their movements. Using the wall, he sprinted off it and whipped his leg around to hit the monster upside the head. This knocked the creature down as he rolled from the fall back onto his pedes before sprinting towards the Ink Machine’s chamber.

When it was in sight, the pentagram a roaring blue, he smiled. “Alright, Machine, do your-”

A hand crashed onto his throat and he dropped the shard, instead clawing at the arm attacking him. He gagged and attempted to sound off but his voice box was hurting badly. The scar on his neck for the damage done by Megatron eons ago ached again. Gasping, he glanced up for what seemed to be so long in utter fear as his vision was nearly crowded with Baron Bacon’s dark features. The tusks uprooting in the latter’s mouth almost scraped against his jawline. 

“So glad you could finally join us. I find your attempt to give the Machine more power amusing but I can’t allow the story to end like this. Did you really think I wouldn’t have considered the Machine not liking my views of the changes I have planned, that it would be so desperate to set things right by contacting you? I’m no fool, Bumblebee.”

“Bumblebee, help me!” Rodimus called from behind him.

Bee tried to twist out of the Baron’s grasp but only found his windpipes lacking ventilation even further causing his body to react terribly to the sudden backtracking buildup of fumes.

“Are you so stupid to try to rescue Bendy? Or maybe you wish to join your dead lover in hell? Well, you’ve certainly come to the right place and I think it’s time I made an example out of you in front of your own peers. Bendy did it before and I’ll do it again.”

“N-n-o-o…” The mech coughed.

“Yes,” Baron Bacon chuckled, plucking the Allspark shard off the ground and holding close to Bumblebee’s faceplates. _“Who’s laughing now?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing ever works according to plan, does it? It also sucks when the person you save (ahem, Joey) decides to leave you for dead. A very belittling betrayal. But is this the end?


	13. Hope is the Key

“Now what shall I do with you? I see you let Joey escape but you failed to realize he’s nothing but a coward. He wouldn’t help you free the rest of these disobedient toons. All he would do is run home to live the rest of his life in peace while everyone suffers because of you. That’s a bit of irony, isn’t it? You chose to help the wrong person and now you’ll die knowing that choice was your last,” Baron Bacon amusedly said. 

Bumblebee occasionally met the saddened eyes of Allison, Tom, Sammy, and many more as they could do nothing but watch his humiliation. He sat with his servos pressed heavily against his back by Octo-Perry, kneeling against his will while Rodimus was forced into a pose almost identical beside him. Blurr was strung up by his pedes by chains and the speedster wasn’t looking at Bee with a nice expression obviously.

Bendy was sulking in his standing state in the throne room, his legs slightly shuddering from the lack of rest. The ink demon idly peered at Bumblebee with a very unusual demeanor which kind of made the Autobot feel sorry for the toon. Losing all his powers to that collar had to be a devastating blow; a toon who couldn’t be a toon anymore. It was probably a shock to the others as well as Bendy that the Baron was a mechanical genius to create such restrictions. Never underestimate your enemy.

The Baron twirled the crystal of the Allspark in his hand, admiring its beautiful, shimmering light blue composition that radiated power. “I honestly can say how delighted I am that you brought me this amazing gift. It kind of makes me want to spare you…but I still hate you so there will be no redemption arc for you.”

Behind his back, Bumblebee pressed a hidden space on his arm by twisting his servo slightly to reach it. The indicator in his system acknowledged the SOS to Optimus and shot the signal to the latter as quickly as it could. Keeping the Baron’s suspicions down, Bumblebee merely frowned.

“So this Allspark is the most powerful item in the world? No, the universe? Imagine all that power, what I could do. A Toon World sounds a bit better, doesn’t it? Toon Galaxy? Toon…Universe?”

“Doesn’t have the same ring to it as Toon Town, to be honest,” Rodimus laughed. He then felt another jabbing pain in his gut and whined with Bee shaking his head. “What is it with you and elbowing me!?”

Henry looked like he kind of smiled but it was lost as the Baron scowled, “Mechanized brat, someone should teach you to hold your tongue.”

Bumblebee grimaced at the thought of what the Baron was implying with that. If Optimus was right and he was a new Megatron, Rodimus would perhaps have his voice box destroyed just like Bee did and the warrior couldn’t imagine anybody going through that experience. He would rather go through it himself again than let another person suffer.

As the Baron kept belittling not only Rodimus but the Searchers who shrunk under his booming voice, Bee noticed something in the background. Slinking in the darkness barely visible, a deformed Bendy outline crawled rather swiftly for someone with a broken foot towards Alice who didn’t seem to see him. He passed a few Lost Ones who did acknowledge him but only widened their glowing eyes in surprise but didn’t dare say anything.

So Joey wasn’t that much of a coward after all. The former human held up what looked like Sari’s Key! Bumblebee blinked with disbelief. He must have teleported to the base and found a way to request it since it could only be retrieved by Sari from the Allspark’s core and open any lock imaginable. If Joey had figured out what the Allspark’s power was hidden in to steal it and cause this mess in the first place, it made sense he must have heard about the Key among other objects held in the Tower. It was probably also to compensate for the fact that no one seemed to know where Baron hid the keys to the collars binding the toons to a near powerless position. Even Bumblebee hadn’t thought about bringing the Key for backup.

Sneaking up to Alice, Joey tapped her leg and she jumped a little but made herself less obvious pretending to bend over to fix her shoe, a few male gazes were unavoidable but the angle most were glancing at hid Joey well. The ink monster watched with his ever-gleaming grin as the Key shifted to meet the required structure of the collar’s lock. Using it, the collar unhitched silently enough under the loud, obnoxious voice that Alice managed to place it behind the throne without detection. When her wrist shackles were also released, she nodded at Joey who merged backwards into the darkness before moving to Tom, then Allison, and finally to Boris.

Unfortunately, a Timberwolf was right beside the larger but friendlier canine toon and Joey was faced with the problem of being detected. He peered towards Bumblebee and his friends before the former gave him a smirk of acceptance. He knew the plan immediately; it was time to stir up the hornet’s nest.

Spawning a scythe from his back, he launched into his battle stance, spine raised and charged at the Timberwolf. The toon had no ability to react as its head was severed from its body, causing it to melt into a puddle which would take approximately a few minutes for it to reform from. The whimper alerted the Baron and everyone in the room as Joey rapidly climbed Boris and opened the collar.

“AH, YOU LITTLE BASTARD!”

The Baron abruptly tried to grab Joey but Boris instead latched onto his wrist and flung him over the shoulder into the wall, creating a deep crack in the metal of one of the broken rides. Taking advantage of the unexpected recovery by Boris, Joey skipped a little to give his arm the momentum it needed to throw the Key in Bumblebee’s direction.

Bee took the cue and jumped up onto his pedes before twirling around in high velocity to damn near break Octo-Perry’s tentacle off. He instantly caught the Key and gripped it tight. When his other servo was freed, he drew his blaster and shot the tentacle restraining Rodimus as well as the one holding Blurr’s pedes above ground. The octopus curled tightly angrily as multiple Timberwolves joined to subdue the Autobots. Before they could attack, a blur of a large white and black object being pushed by a black and white force drifted sideways into them. They were gone and roadkill in a flash.

Bumblebee smiled gleefully, “Casey!?”

The train slammed his sibling through the doors to the main area and almost swiped the giant plush toys sitting beside the ink waterfall as he crashed both him and his brother into a makeshift warehouse. Caesar was stunned by the move and grimaced in pain as Casey removed his face from the other’s side which he used to ram him. The white train’s closed eyes were swirling indicating he was somewhat knocked out as his body slid off the creased metal with the smooshed bodies of the Timberwolves stuck inside onto the floor. There was no collar on Casey which meant Joey must have set Casey free first before Alice though Casey had to have been somewhere else in the studio since he was not present formerly. With a victorious roar, Casey drove straight into the wall furiously and teleported to who knows where. Once Caesar shook off the hit, he too growled and seemingly fled into subspace to try and chase his younger brother.

Remembering he held the Key, Bumblebee dodged Octo-Perry’s remaining limbs and several Timberwolves towards Bendy who only laughed, “Well now we’re having a party, huh? What took you so long? Didn’t want to invite me?”

“Now’s not the time for jokes, Bendy!” Bumblebee yelled as he used the ink demon’s chained body to perform a one eighty turn around and shoot three Timberwolves right in the face, all three giving loud brief whines of pain from each shot.

Once the nearest threat was neutralized, Bumblebee quickly hurried to unlock Bendy but he was thrown back by Baron Bacon and shoved against the nearest wall.

“I will kill you!” The warthog bellowed, “Give me that Key!”

Bumblebee opened both servos sheepishly, “I would but I don’t have it.”

The Baron’s face lit up with fearful realization and just as he turned his head around, a mallet socked him right in the face. The familiar sound of the Allspark shard clattering onto the ground was heard and not long after the pig flew a good several yards, it rolled just beside Bumblebee’s pede. The Autobot didn’t hesitate to pick it up and glimmered happily at his savior.

“Took you long enough,” Bee playfully taunted.

Bendy professionally twirled the mallet in his gloved hand before setting it on his shoulder. He chuckled, “Shut up. Now I’m assuming you have a backup plan?”

The mech clicked his tongue, “They should be arriving just about…”

The ground bridge flared open and Arcee came through with Bulkhead in tow, guns blazing. Optimus ran through with his arm-mounted sword and immediately took on Octo-Perry who was distracted enough in awe to fail to counter the Prime’s brutal blows. 

Bumblebee and Bendy grinned at one another before Bee whistled, “Allison! Catch!”

The smaller Angel didn’t spare a second as the Key was tossed to her and she bolted to the Sheep. Freeing them, she left for the Projectionist and Sammy as Tom covered her with his axe. As the Sheep adjusted to their freedom, more Timberwolves circled them. But Bellwether barely batted an eye. Peering towards Beau on her right to Bernard on her left casually, she cackled as she held up her former chains and dropped them, indicating to the wolves she was unleashed. Only one of them grew afraid knowing what that meant and backed away. The other foolishly advanced until the giggling Little Ally Doll pranced by unaffected and innocently presented the Sheep with a stroller filled with their weapons.

Bellwether didn’t go for a gun like normal. Instead, she grabbed her favorite hand-held tool, the khopesh, and brought it parallel with her snout with a serial killer smile. Whipping the weapon back and leaping into the air, Bellwether quickly and efficiently moved through her enemies, slicing their heads and throats, cutting through limbs, and even grabbing a few of them to jab several times into their bodies with such hostility even the other two Sheep just stood back and watched the horror show.

Once Sammy’s collar was opened, Norman threw him his axe. He did a few tricks with it to get a feel of the weapon again before swinging it with no warning into the skull of a Timberwolf. The creature froze on impact and collapsed as the music director roughly pulled the axe out.

“Beware the wolves, my Sheep, they’ve come to play. But don’t worry, they’ll be slaughtered by the end of the day.”

Susie was then handed the Key by Tom who had taken over for Allison and released all of the Searchers and Lost Ones. She used the throne to have enough of a height span to jump onto the cage that kept Henry. Above her, Casey appeared and fled into the walls and ceiling as did Caesar. The white and black train roared past the cage only by inches before vanishing in the wall beside them. Thankfully, Caesar was too busy trying to round up his brother to care about her or Henry.

Alice hopped off the edge and barely managed to grip the underside of the cage. Swinging herself up, she scaled the cage until she was eye level with Henry. “Did you really think we would leave you behind?”

“I had my doubts after what I’ve caused,” Henry mused. 

As the Timberwolves were being destroyed physically faster than they could reform already downed members, Baron Bacon was on his hands and knees staring at his reign disintegrating. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He was supposed to be in control. Damn Bumblebee, damn him to hell! When Susie grabbed Henry and exited the cage, the Baron hit his fist against the floor and tried to run towards them only for Blurr to pop up in his way. 

A brief shock turned to utter fury as he tried to hit the speedster but the mech was far too quick. Blurr taunted him along the way, “Missed! Oh so close! Are you even trying!? Can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!”

“Stay still!” The toon snarled. He didn’t notice Blurr took advantage of his distracted nature trying to catch him. While he focused only on Blurr himself, the Autobot used indistinguishable moments to steadily wrap a rope around the Baron’s legs until finally Blurr actually stood still. When the toon tried to land a punch, he noticed his legs weren’t moving to help his reach and started to lean forward with his fist on inches from the mech’s faceplates. He made a noise of discomfort as Blurr only smiled and he fell flat on his face with a thud and a grunt. 

“Well, Porky, it’s been fun but I need to go,” Blurr gradually heckled as he strode casually past the fallen form. The Baron just growled and fumed trying to pull at the rope binding his legs.

“Everyone, Bendy, regroup at the Autobot base! We’ll meet you there!” Arcee chimed, slicing through another of Octo-Perry’s tentacles.

Optimus nodded and continued to fire as Alice and Henry ran through the ground bridge. “Autobots fall back!”

Obeying, Bulkhead, Rodimus, and Blurr all sped through the bridge as Optimus and Bumblebee held their ground. Allison, Tom, and the other former humans each used either a pentagram or a different method to evaporate away into the walls. The Searchers and Lost Ones who managed to outmaneuver the Timberwolves patrolling followed suit and Bendy was the last to go.

The ink demon swiped at Baron Bacon when the latter drew too close and smiled menacingly, “You drew the line, Baron and now I promise I’ll kill you at the end of this week!”

Snorting, the warthog got up from his kneeling stance after dodging the mallet. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, devil.”

“We’ll see. I’ll gladly test that theory soon,” Bendy mocked, laughing at the deranged expression implemented on the larger toon’s face. 

Sinking downward into a puddle too fast to register, Bendy vanished with his cackle echoing through the studio. The ground bridge closed and only the Baron, Octo-Perry, and the Timberwolves remained. All of them were furious as several wolves continued to respawn. Caesar finally joined them, having lost his brother and given up the chase. Out of the mass majority, Baron Bacon was the most enraged. He gave a loud beastly bellow in frustration and stomped his hooves onto the ground, rupturing several wooden planks in the process.

“I SHOULD HAVE CRUSHED THAT DEMON INTO POWDER WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE! Alright, Bendy, you want to play?” The Baron barked, “Let’s play!”  
\----------------------------------

The ground bridge rumbled beside several military aircraft warehouses steadily as Bumblebee walked through, the others appearing just before him. Lennox and Epps with Ironhide were waiting on the other side and a few glances passed between them.

“So what happened? Did you save Henry or…” Lennox gulped with a sudden fearful expression.

Bee merely smiled and treaded to the side as a smaller form emerged behind him. Henry stepped off the portal’s ledge and stretched as Susie gently gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Not dead yet, I’m afraid.”

Lennox was about to respond when the sound of ink bubbling, popping, and gushing emitted across the currently inactive airstrip as puddles formed. Searchers groaned as Allison and Tom emerged together. Norman held Ally’s hand as Sammy joined up with them and soon the airstrip was covered with ink monsters and toons alike. 

The Colonel stuttered, “Um…you-you brought company, Bumblebee?”

“It’s alright, Will, they’re friendly. Baron Bacon doesn’t know where the base is yet so they are going to be staying here with us until we figure out a way to combat his forces. He has an army of ravenous wolves, an octopus, and another train toon I’m assuming is either Casey’s sibling or Casey’s scorned rival…or both.”

“No kidding?” Lennox huffed, carefully keeping his distance from the spawning Boris.

Just then, Bendy shot out of the ground from his own puddle and landed effortlessly, bouncing slightly from impact but simply walked up to Bumblebee with a massive grin. “I’ll admit, I’m impressed. I honestly didn’t think you would come to my aid…after everything I’ve done to you.”

Bumblebee shook his helm softly, “No one deserves to be enslaved like that. Although you are a bad guy, Bendy-”

The ink demon frowned sorrowfully at the comment and peered towards the ground in shame.

“-that doesn’t make you a bad guy in my optics.”

His expression lightened a little as Bumblebee patted his shoulder in comfort. He sweetly chuckled and suddenly drew the Autobot in for a large hug which made the mech grunt in surprise but he didn’t push away from Bendy. 

“Thank you, Bumblebee.”

Henry watched the embrace with curiosity as Bee eventually grew less tense in the duration of the hug. He felt someone’s hand clasp his shoulder and turned to see the melted face of Joey. Smiling, he spoke almost in a whisper, “Hello, old friend.”

A low moan sounded from Joey but all of the moments of relief halted when a mountain of ink erupted from the ground and for a moment, everyone was prepared to fight. Instead, Casey burst straight up before slamming down onto the concrete with a tired appearance. It was more than obvious that Caesar’s pursuit had depleted a lot of Casey’s energy, and the train slowly rolled to a curve towards Bendy, whimpering cute noises and licking the edges of his mouth like a dog hungrily awaiting food. 

“Casey!” Bendy happily clasped the train’s white cheeks adorably, squishing them a little though Casey didn’t seem to mind. “My baby, my precious darling, you look famished.”

Henry rolled his eyes. That train was hardly starving; he ate ten times more than his own body weight daily. He was a little chubby for a train too, if it were to be added.

The ink demon then remarked, “Bumblebee, do you have like a scrapyard or something? Casey loves to eat, don’t you girl?”

Casey burped an ink bubble which kind of put Bendy off a second but he returned to smiling at his pet and stroked the monster’s chin.

“Sammy!” Alice called out. The music director smiled and held out his welcoming arms as the angel ran into him, swinging her around before holding her over the ground. He lifted up his mask and kissed her, a small giggle forming from Susie. 

“My Angel,” purred Sammy.

He felt an abrupt slap on his back and brought Susie, who was blushing like mad, upward with a slight scowl at the interruption. He didn’t get the chance to scorn who did it because the Projectionist nearly crushed him into a hug with Ally sweeping past the men to Alice whom she hopped up and down to greet. As Sammy gave a deep sigh of annoyance as Norman refused to let him go, Ally was seated on Alice’s hip and nuzzled gently.

Allison and Tom sat on a Jeep top holding hands while the Sheep fawned over a few soldiers. As the couple could guess, they were probably more attracted to the bazooka and other weapons strapped to the military personnel than the men themselves. The soldiers didn’t know what to do with the Sheep so mesmerized about them or the weapons so they tried to back away.

Bumblebee watched all of the ink monsters and toons interact like on big dysfunctional family before turning towards Bendy. “I promise I’ll get you your studio back.”

“How so? The Machine can’t leave so we may be vastly outnumbered if Baron Bacon forces it to make more toons to serve him,” the ink demon chirped, still stroking Casey’s head as the latter munched on unused metal scrap.

“What if I told you we know a way to turn the tide against the Baron using the Machine?”

This made Bendy narrow his pie-cut eyes uncertainly, “What do you mean?”

Digging from his chest cavity, Bee produced the Allspark shard and held it up for Bendy to see with a huge grin, “You’ve seen the Machine create life, but have you ever seen the Machine destroy life?”

Bendy stayed silent with gradual comprehension of his plan, the white face forming utmost shock before twisting to an open smile of glee.

“All we have to do is coax Baron Bacon to the Machine and watch the magic happen. It’s time to end his reign, don’t you think?”  
\------------------------------

Pounding his fist into his throne and practically destroying it, the Baron threw a massive temper tantrum as Caesar contorted his features in a negative way. 

“Imbeciles!”

The Timberwolves lowered to the ground with their tails between their legs.

“Mongrels!”

Octo-Perry contracted her tentacles inward as more debris from his rampage flew by her head, making her wince and cover herself.

“You all had one job and somehow you managed to screw it up!?” The Baron screamed, pinpointing Caesar out of all of them.

The train wasn’t fazed by the attention and was the only toon brave enough to growl back as the warthog almost got into his face. The Baron knew Caesar was unchallengeable and wouldn’t submit entirely to any authority, especially one that would dare insult him. It was no surprise Caesar stood his ground even as the tusks were almost pushed right up to his nose light.

Baron Bacon scowled, “Caesar, you failed to monitor your sibling which allowed Joey to get away! You are to blame for ruining my plans! Either you fix it by hunting Casey and the others down or so help me, I’ll make your hide into a lawn ornament!”

Caesar narrowed his eyes angrily with a huff of smoke from his chimney and drifted away from the Baron’s manic gaze to dive into the nearest wall.

“Does anyone else want to do or share something with me today!?”

None of the antagonists moved or spoke as they were glared at. When no one did anything, Baron Bacon whipped around and roared, “Then find me Bendy and Henry so I can nail their corpses to the wall!”

The toons didn’t need to be told twice. They all scattered and left the Baron to clutch his fists tightly as he stared at the remnants of the throne and the broken Bendy cutouts that remained beside it.  
\------------------------

Alice morphed into Cybertronian size and walked graciously up to Bumblebee who had drawn a service map of the city of Detroit as a compass of ambush. She knew why he would consider such a thing but it still amazed her how dedicated he was to his promises…even after Flareup’s death at the hand of Bendy.

“I never got to thank you,” she muttered softly.

Bee gave a light smile, “There’s no need but it’s a hospitable thought. You’re welcome.”

Susie brought something into view which slightly captured Bee’s attention. She blinked elegantly, “You know, Bendy has changed since I first met him after our second awakening all because of you. I’m not just thanking you because of the fact that you rescued us, but I’m also underlining the fact that you made Bendy more like himself, like his cartoon self. Before you came into our lives, Bendy was indescribable; he was nothing like his counterpart aside from a few quirks. I thank you for bringing back the Bendy we knew, the compassionate beautiful bastard we came to love so many years ago.”

Tossing him the item, Bumblebee reacted appropriately and opened his servo to see the Key vibrating its color and its distinctive rumbling sound. 

“You’re a surprising mech, Bumblebee. You definitely are worthy to walk among angels,” she cooed, brushing one hand across one of his wings as she left him to his maps.

Bee studied the Key intensely. He would probably need an angel by the end of this crazy adventure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now they have to fight their way back to the Ink Machine but can they do it? Will they do it? I do have a few more surprises up my sleeve upcoming some time but I can't reveal more than that.


End file.
